Taking the Reins
by jonderson
Summary: Sheriff Stilinski has been taken by the Darach and Scott takes control.
1. Chapter 1

Isaac crashed into the classroom, followed closely by Allison and her dad. They looked around frantically for they threat, but saw none. Allison ran over to Lydia and began to loosen the cord around her neck.

"What the hell happened?" Chris shouted.

"I'll tell you what happened! My dad just got taken by the melted version of our English teacher!"

"Her? How...?"

"She was the Darach" Lydia panted, still slouching in the chair she was duct taped to. "She's been behind all the ritualistic killings and the crazy animal behavior." At a nod from Scott, Isaac made his way over to her and began carefully cutting the tape away with his claws.

Chris checked the hallway for any listeners and then closed the door. "What was the Sheriff doing here then?"

"He's not dumb you know," Stiles replied caustically. "He put the clues together. It is his job. On the plus side I guess he finally believes me. But none of this matters right now, we have to go after him!"

"Stiles is right," Scott spoke up. "We can't waste time on this and show up too late again." The anguished look on Stiles' face cut into him. Stiles and his dad had been there for him so many times and now it was his turn.

Scott turned to Isaac who was staring at him with his usual unwavering gaze. "Isaac, go find Dr. Deaton and when you do, call me. I'll tell you where to meet me." With a quick nod and a relieved look on his face, Isaac bolted out the door.

"Mr. Argent, you seem to know a lot about this Druid stuff, am I right?" Chris gave him a measured look, but nodded his head in agreement.

Scott continued, "I think we can both agree that Ms. Blake needs to be found as soon as possible. I want you to work with Stiles and Allison to narrow down the places that she could be taking him."

"No way, man!" Stiles interjected. "I have to be out there looking for my dad!"

"Stiles," Scott said softly, pulling his best friend over to the window, "You told me at the lacrosse final last year that you couldn't do all the things I could, with the speed and heightened senses and stuff. And I told you it was OK, because you have other strengths. Stiles, you understand things, deduce things, that I couldn't even dream of and you more than pull your weight in the friend department. We're a team. Not like Batman and Robin, but like Wolverine and Professor X. I need you to help find your dad, but in the way that uses the skills that only you have. Please Stiles, I promise that we'll find him, as a team."

Stiles nodded and tried to crack a smile "OK, I'll do it, but don't expect me to shave my head. I like my hair the way it is." Scott just smiled gently. Trust Stiles to joke at a time like this. They walked back to join the others. Chris was still looking at him with interest, but he hadn't said 'No'.

"I have copies of our research with me, so do we need to go back to your apartment, or can we just work from the Library?" Stiles asked. Allison looked to her dad with a hopeful expression, but Chris still stared at Scott.

"Fine," he said after a moment. "The Library is fine." He nodded at Scott and lead the way out the door, followed quickly by Stiles and Allison who both gave him small, determined smiles on their way out the door.

It was just him and Lydia now. He figuratively perked up his ears and listened for the sounds coming from the gymnasium-turned-concert hall.

"Ethan, Aidan. Come to the English room," he spoke. He didn't say it overly loud, but there was no doubt that it was a command.

"What about me?" Lydia said. Scott could tell she didn't want to get left out again.

"You already have your job," Scott replied. "like we talked about earlier, you know? Try to follow your instincts and not fight them, and let me know where it leads you."

"She said I was a Banshee, Ms. Blake did, before you got here."

"Yeah, I was listening. I don't know what it means, but we'll figure it out, OK? Just do your best."

"Just drive around aimlessly by myself?" she looked a little scared at this notion.

"Well, hopefully, not by yourself..." Scott trailed off as Ethan and Aidan came through the door. Ethan looked cautious, but Aidan looked perturbed.

"We didn't have anything to do with this, Scott" Ethan began.

"I didn't think you did, but Stiles' dad has been taken by the Darach and I need your help to find him before it's too late." Their stance relaxed at this statement, but Aidan still didn't look pleased.

"Why should we help you?" He asked, "You're not our Alpha. You're not even an alpha at all. What makes you think that you can order us around?" Ethan tried to settle his brother down but it didn't seem to be working. Aidan's eye's flared red in a show of superiority. He wasn't surprised when Scott's eyes flared golden, but when they dilated and blazed red he took a step back.

Scott took a step forward. "I may not be your Alpha," he took another step, pinning the twins with his eyes. "I may not be above you in whatever Werewolf hierarchy there is, " Another step. "But I need your help and you will help me. Do you want to know why?" Scott was now up close and personal with the two bigger boys, but he kept their attention on him. He could see sweat on their necks and temples, and realized that riling them up wouldn't help him find Mr. Stilinski. Even Lydia, he could sense, was holding her breath at this little show down. He took a deep breath and continued in a calm and controlled manner. "You are going to help me, because I know that you aren't the bad guys here."

This clearly was not what the twins were expecting from him and they let out a sigh of what seemed to be relief. Ethan looked at him sheepishly while Aidan's expression seemed to have turned to curiosity. Scott pressed on.

"Ethan told me a little about your past and I can see that you've had a harder life than most, but I can also see that you have not had a lot of choice in your actions. You may be alphas, but in your pack, I know Deucalion calls the shots. I'm not telling you to go against his orders, but I do want you to do the right thing and help track down my best friend's abducted father. Please."

The two boys looked at each other and Aidan tilted his head to the side as if asking Ethan's opinion. Ethan just nodded once and they turned back to Scott.

"OK," Aidan said.

"We'll help" Ethan continued.

Scott smiled at them, a full, brilliant smile that dispelled any lingering doubts the two had. After all, it would be nice to do something for once that didn't involve intimidating or fighting other wolves.

"Great. Aidan, I need you to go with Lydia and keep her safe." Aidan looked insulted, as if his job was essentially baby-sitting on the sidelines. Scott quickly continued. "Lydia will be going out looking for the Darach, Ms. Blake."

Aidan looked at him, surprised. "Why send her out? She's human and could get hurt. She isn't even trained with weapons like your other girl friend." He looked at Lydia with concern. 'Maybe Ethan wasn't the only one getting too close to his assignment' Scott thought.

Affronted, Lydia piped up. "For your information, I have a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very short few months. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. Or just myself actually. And I guess it's not quite a skill, but..." she trailed off. For the first time, Scott could see why Stiles thought she was the girl for him.

"We need her and that's that. Are you willing to keep her safe?" Scott asked, piercing the larger boy with his gaze again.

Aidan swallowed and nodded. With that Lydia took the reins pulling him out the door. "You should probably drive, but be as quiet as you can be and let me concentrate, I'll tell you where to go when I can..." and with that they were out the door.

Ethan looked back at Scott. "I promised Danny that I'd protect him... I want to help you Scott, I do, but I don't want to leave him alone." Scott thought he looked nervous like speaking out of turn would get him punished. Maybe he and Isaac had more in common that they thought.

"Don't worry Ethan, that works out perfectly. Half the town is in the gymnasium and the cops will be here soon to take statements. I need you to keep an eye on everything here, including the people that I have promised to protect who are working in the Library." Ethan cocked his head and listened. "Stiles and Allison" Scott clarified, "also Alison's dad, though I'd stay out of his sight if possible. He's barely OK with me. He's a Hunter, in case you didn't know."

"You're friends with a Hunter?" Ethan looked flabbergasted. "and an Argent even. We knew about the girl, but..." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Scott with a mixture of respect and bewilderment.

"We're not exactly friends, but we've been sort of allies in the past. Lets just say we're on speaking terms and leave it at that." Scott concluded.

Ethan just nodded and left the room to patrol the area. Scott moved to the broken window and sniffed the air. He could smell Mr. Stilinski's scent on the air. He smelled like Tide detergent, Old Spice aftershave and his gun cleaning kit. All good strong smells. He could also smell fear, which was the strongest scent of them all. Behind him the door burst open, bounced of the wall and slammed closed again as Derek stalked in. 'Always with the fancy entrances' Scott thought.

"What's happened?" Derek growled, striding towards Scott, trying to asses the situation. "I heard the scream all the way at the hospital." Since there was only Scott here, he lowered his hackles a bit and looked to him for an explanation.

"I don't really have time to go over the whole thing, but Ms. Blake the English teacher is the Darach. She attacked Lydia and abducted Stiles' dad. I'm about to go after her and track them by scent. Are you coming?" he said a bit impatiently. He didn't want the scent to go cold and he had already wasted 5 minutes, giving the Darach a head start. He moved to jump out the window but Derek grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.

"Ms. Blake? You mean Jennifer?" He asked. Scott remembered that Stiles and Isaac had said that she was used as a hostage at Derek's loft, the night Boyd died, but he didn't think that much of it at the time. Now though...

"Did you know her or something?" he asked.

Derek looked confused. "Yeah I know her. She was the third heartbeat in the boiler room the night we broke into the vault. She took care of me when I fell down onto that escalator. I slept with her! It can't be her!"

"I saw it myself, when she changed from what she normally looks like to that slashed up, hooded figure. It was pretty disturbing, but it was definitely her." Scott wanted to give him a chance to process this, but there was no time.

"Derek, can you track her? You know her scent, right?"

"Yeah, I can follow them, but..." Derek began.

"Just do it!" Scott shouted. "You're wasting time."

Derek shifted and gave him a hard look, which Scott mirrored right back at him. After a few seconds, he dropped his gaze and acquiesced by letting go of the younger man's arm.

Scott took a deep breath and somersaulted out the window and took off into the trees, Derek following a couple steps behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Scott and Derek ran through the woods, following the scent of their quarry. Scott didn't know what to make of the trail that the Darach was leaving, but it seemed that she had picked up some skills that didn't have anything to do with healing or being virginal. Maybe she had sacrificed some Olympic long jumpers and sprinters, because she was fast. He imagined the scent was a ribbon floating in the air, but in some places, it was like the ribbon was cut, or it wound up a tree, or floated too high for him to catch it. He was glad that Derek was with him and he hadn't gone alone. When Scott lost Stiles' dad's scent, Derek was able to pick up Ms. Blake's until he caught the trail again.

Scott thought that it was weird that in his mind he still called her 'Ms. Blake' like she deserved his respect. His mom had taught him good manners and they were ingrained in him, but some people do not deserve that respect.

He felt a buzz in his pocket and saw it was Isaac calling.

"I'm here with Deaton, what next?" Isaac asked. Scott smiled. It took him at least 20 minutes to get from the school to his work. Isaac must have really run to get there so quickly.

"Pass the phone over to him." He waited until Deaton came on the line. "Dr. Deaton, Ms. Blake is the Darach. Or maybe that's not her real name. The Sheriff said that she was found slashed up in the woods years ago as if from an animal attack." He heard Deaton's sharp inhale and waited.

"I think I know who it is. When Deucalion took power, as you know his alphas killed their packs. They also killed their Emissaries. I didn't know them personally, but one of them was a woman. It could be her."

"So why wait until now to get revenge?" Scott wondered aloud.

"Well, it could simply be that the Alpha pack hadn't returned to this area until now. Even though Beacon Hill is special, the death of the Hale family left quite the scar and no other pack has populated the area until recently." He explained.

"How do we kill it? Her. It." Derek called out from the top of a near-by ridge. He shook his head as if trying to dislodge any feelings that may have settled there without his consent. 'This is why anger is his anchor' Scott thinks. 'He's betrayed by every other emotion he has. And I probably didn't help with that by pretending to be in his pack to poison Gerard.'

"How can we defeat her," Scott asks into the phone. "Once we find her I mean."

"From what you've told me about the sacrifices, she has taken on aspects of each victim. The illusion of youth, beauty and purity from the virgins disguised her disfigurement. She has physical fitness, combat skills and strategy from the warriors. She got her ability to heal from the doctors... but since I was her third sacrifice... she may not be as powerful in that area. She's sacrificed two philosophers so she's very intelligent..." he drifted off in thought.

"Maybe three philosophers. She had meant to sacrifice Lydia, but we stopped it. I heard in the classroom when the Music teacher was killed in the gym. There wasn't strangling or a head injury, so maybe it doesn't count as a sacrifice." Scott supplied.

"All things for me to think about. I don't know how to defeat her yet, but I'll try to come up with some ideas for you. I may have to be there myself though."

"OK, you work on that then. Put Isaac back on?" He heard the phone being passed again.

"I'm here, Scott."

"Isaac, while Deaton is doing research, please stop by the hospital to check on my mom and Cora and warn them about what's going on. I know Cora will want to help, but she's too injured and my mom will be able to keep her there. Plus, that way she'll have someone to worry about that's not you or me." Isaac gave a pleased little hum that made Scott think that the taller boy didn't really mind someone worrying about him.

"Sure thing, Scott. I'll check in later." With that the call was disconnected. Scott looked up to see Derek staring at him funny. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just didn't know you cared about Cora. I thought you two didn't get along." Derek growled and sprinted off again after the scent. Scott caught up to him quickly.

"Cora and I don't really get along, you're right. She's really impulsive and hardheaded, no offense. But she's your sister and part of your pack. I knew you'd worry about her if she was left by herself, just like I worry about my mom." To Scott it was the simplest thing, the only decent thing to do, but Derek's wary look made him remember how hard it was for Derek to let people in.

"Look, I'm sorry that I pretended to be part of your pack last spring during the whole Kanima thing. Well, not sorry, because it had to be done, but sorry that I used you."

"You could have just told me," Derek said gruffly.

"No I couldn't. If you had known about my plan you would have tried to stop me, or gotten impatient and tried to kill Gerard before his true intentions were exposed. I needed everyone, Allison and Mr. Argent included, to know what kind of person he really was."

"And you don't trust me to follow through, is that it?"

"Derek, how many times have you come up with a plan that revolves around killing? Kill the Alpha, kill the Hunters, kill Kate, Lydia, Jackson, Matt, Boyd, Cora, Gerard and now Deucalion, Kali and the Alpha pack. And how often do I have a plan that doesn't. Granted, my plans don't always work out, but a lot of the time they do. Sometimes you even agree to my plan, but then bail halfway through and do things your own way. I can't risk it." Derek just glared at him when his phone buzzed again. 'Saved by the bell' he thought. When Derek raced ahead he hung back to answer the call and give Derek some space.

"Hey Stiles, what have you got for me?"

"Well while Allison and her dad were looking at the maps, I have tracked the GPS app that I installed on my dad's phone. She seems to be taking him in a North West bearing, following Beacon Brook."

"The brook? But we passed that miles ago. We're following the scent North East. Do you think we should double back?"

"Well it's possible that she ditched his phone and it's floating down stream somewhere. I had to make him get the waterproof case didn't I?" Stiles' sounded disgusted with himself. "Follow your nose, Buddy. You smelled it when he cheated on the heart healthy diet I put him on. I trust your sense of smell implicitly."

"Thanks, Stiles. Any luck with the maps?"

"Well lets go have a little peek and see what's what. I'm putting you on speaker." Scott could hear the ruffling of paper in the background. He heard Chris clearing his throat, but it was Allison who spoke. The sound was a bit muffled and distorted in speaker mode, but he managed.

"Scott, we've narrowed it down to four possible locations. Beacon Park, an abandoned house at the end of Gorse road, an old Distillery on the outside of town, and Beacon Falls."

"Wait, wait" Stiles interjected. "We only chose some of those, because they were in the NW direction. If They're going NE, then we can rule out the Falls and the abandoned house, but that puts the country club and the public pool back in the realm of possibility."

"Ok, you scout the country club and the pool while Derek and I follow the scent. Maybe we'll get lucky."

Scott heard someone take the phone of speaker. "Scott." Mr. Argent's voice was deep and disgruntled.

"Hi, Mr. Argent." Scott knew why he gave Mr. Argent his respect. He was on shaky enough ground with the hunter already. Good manners would not hurt the situation.

"Why is there a young man with a face like a teddy bear skulking around the Library." Busted. He heard Derek snort somewhere in the distance.

"Oh, that's just Ethan. I told him to keep an eye on everyone there for me. I said he shouldn't bother you though. I didn't think he would. He seemed pretty afraid of you."

"Ah, I see." Scott could tell that made Mr. Argent happier, he could hear the smile in his tone. It kinda creeped him out that Mr. Argent was happy that someone was afraid of him, but as long as Ethan didn't get too close it should be OK.

"Bye Mr. Argent."

"Goodbye Scott."

As soon as he hung up he texted Ethan to let him know that the three were leaving and that he could focus on Danny and the rest of the gymnasium now. The confirmation "OK" came back in a couple seconds and Scott picked up his pace to catch up to Derek.

"Why are you always so polite to that guy?" Derek asked. He seemed to think it was a personal failing of Scott's to be polite to someone who had tried to kill him.

Scott thought about the question a little while before answering. "I'm polite to Mr. Argent because I respect him. I know that you don't, but I think you should." He glanced over at Derek and saw his contemptuous look. "No really. Some days he and his code are the only things standing between one of us and death." He heard Derek's harrumph and pressed on. "He only hunts werewolves that he thinks are out of control, and he doesn't hunt kids or sympathizers like my mom and Stiles."

"He hunted me." Derek pointed out tersely.

"He thought you were the wolf who was killing everyone. Hell, half the time I thought you were the person killing everyone." His growl beside me reminded me of another time I had thrown him to the wolves, figuratively speaking. "Anyways, he stopped hunting you after he found out the truth. Even after Kate died, even after his wife died he mostly just ran interference between us and Gerard or Allison. Or the both of them. Now that was scary."

Derek stayed silent, so Scott continued. "He even helped us corral Boyd and Cora when they were out of control. Peter didn't even help us with that and he's related to you two."

"Yeah, well Peter's not exactly the gold standard." Derek groused.

"That doesn't matter, " Scott said. "The point is that he helped us and he didn't have to. He could have rounded up a posse of hunters and taken out some lunatic werewolves before we would have even come up with a plan."

Scott thought about what he was going to say next. He knew it would probably shock the older wolf, but it had to be said. "I like knowing that the hunters are out there. If I ever go off the deep end and start trying to kill people, I'd want someone like Mr. Argent to kill me before I hurt an innocent person."

Derek skidded to a stop and peered at Scott as if he had never seen anything like him before. "You're telling the truth," he said, amazed. "Are you out of your mind? No one wants to be murdered."

"Not murdered. In fact, it would be more like keeping me alive in the way I want to be remembered. If I start killing people, I won't be me anymore, anyways."

Derek just shook his head and ran off after the scent. "It's like arguing with the damn Giving Tree," he grumbled.


	3. Chapter 3

Scott and Derek were quickly closing in on the park when he got a call from Aidan.

"Lydia's kind of freaking me out Scott" he said warily.

"Why? What is she doing?"

"She's just crying and hyperventilating in the back seat." Aidan sounded like he didn't have a lot of experience dealing with crying women. Scott didn't either, for that matter, but Lydia was doing this to help him. He had to at least try to help her, too.

"Give her the phone. Lydia, can you hear me?"

"Yes I can hear you. Scott." Her breathing was rapid and it sounded like one of Stiles' panic attacks." I can't do it. It's not working, nothing's working!" Her voice was getting shrill.

"Just calm down, OK? Lean back in the seat and close your eyes. Listen to just my voice, alright?" He heard her murmured assent, and waited for her breathing to even out. "I know this is new for us. Let's just give it a try. Lydia, just go to a place in your mind. Somewhere quiet, OK? Just somewhere that makes you feel calm." He thought about Allison and realized that his own heart rate had risen with Lydia's panic. Even though they weren't together right now, he was happy that Allison still had that effect on him. He heard Lydia's heart beat slow down too. "Now does anything feel different to you?"

"No, no, well not really, but it sounds different."

"Different how?"

"Like I'm in a canyon or concert hall or an old warehouse where you can make an echo."

Scott thought back to the places on the list. The country club and the park were out, but the pool was indoors and when she mentioned the warehouse he had thought of the distillery.

"Derek" he heard a grunt up ahead of him which he took for acknowledgement. "I've narrowed it down to the pool or the distillery outside town. Do you have any thoughts?" He heard Derek's heart stutter and he stopped running.

"What is it? Do you know something?" Scott asked running up to meet him.

"It's the distillery. It's been used as a pack gathering spot in the past and if she was an Emissary, she'd have been there before. But I can't go back there."

"What? Why?" Scott was incredulous. Here he had a solid lead and Derek was bailing again. He looked more closely at him and he could smell the pain and guilt radiating off of him. He sighed. 'Derek has his reasons, I guess' he thought. He knew Derek wouldn't be sharing those with him, but Scott couldn't make him relive the kind of pain that was wafting off of him, even for Stiles and his dad.

Derek just stayed silent and closed off glaring at the ground like all his problems were growing straight out of that spot.

"OK Derek, you don't have to tell me. You stay with the scent trail in case it leads somewhere else and come if you can. I'm going up and over and hopefully I'll get there before them." Scott knew from studying the maps of the area so much that if Ms. Blake was going to the distillery, she was traveling the long way on flat ground. If he scaled the cliff that they were running beside he could go in a straight line and maybe beat them there. It was worth a shot.

Derek didn't exactly look pleased with this plan as it would still take him towards the the old building and bad memories. He was breathing pretty heavily though Scott doubted it was from running.

"Just remember, this is for Stiles and his dad. I know you've had your differences with both of them, but I can see that you still care about what happens to them. That's what being an alpha is about right? Caring for and protecting your pack."

Derek's gaze was unreadable, but he turned and continued down the trail and out of sight.

Scott looked down at his phone again and brought it to his ear. "Lydia are you still there? " he listened for a moment before repeating "Lydia?"

"She passed out, but she's fine." Aidan was silent for a moment. "Is that really what you think an alpha's job is?"

"Yeah, of course, don't you?"

"Not in my experience" he muttered, sullenly.

"Oh, right." Scott didn't really know what to say in these situations. If it were Isaac he was talking to he'd just give him a smile or put his arm around his shoulder for comfort but he couldn't do either of those over the phone. He'd try to help anyways.

"We'll maybe when you and Ethan lead your own pack you'll know what not to do."

"You think we could lead a pack?" He sounded like he'd never even thought of that as a possibility.

"Sure, why not? You're alphas after all. Plus, if you and your brother are a team then you wouldn't have to go it alone. It sometimes looks like it would be lonely being an alpha." He thought back to Derek. He was alone before he became an alpha but he tried to build his pack as quickly as he could. He said that was to make the pack stronger, but maybe he was just tired of being by himself. Scott had so many people in his life and he didn't know what he would do without them. If he were suddenly alone... well, he didn't even want to think about that.

"Thanks, Scott. " Aidan sounded thoughtful. "Hey do you want me to meet you out at the distillery? I could drop off Lydia and then come help?" He suggested. Scott thought he sounded pretty genuine. 'I wonder what happened to get rid if his surly attitude. Maybe it was something Lydia said.' Scott knew that she could be pretty persuasive.

"Thanks, that would be great." He gave Aidan the general directions, knowing the alpha's senses would help him find the right place.

He put his phone away and began scaling the cliff. It wasn't as easy as it had been in gym class, but he dug his claws in and made it up without too much difficulty. At the top, he sent a text to Stiles with the new location, noted what time it was, and set of at a run. It had been about 25 minutes since the Mr. Stilinski was taken. He had to find the sheriff before it was too late.

As he was running he got a text from Ethan. "cops r letting ppl go. will drop off Danny and come meet u." 'Wow,' Scott thought. 'Once these guys say they will help I guess the really mean it.' He took of running. Thankfully it was all downhill from here and he could pick up some speed.

When Isaac called him five minutes later, the vibrations threw him off his stride and he almost barreled into a tree. 'Any more of this and I'll need a blue tooth' he thought.

"Hey Isaac, we narrowed down the locations and my best guess is that she'll be bringing Mr. Stilinski to the old distillery out by Clover Pond. Do you know it?"

"I do, but Scott, I was talking to your mom and she had an idea. She said that she had kept a sample of the Kanima slime. It might still work."

"Bring it, and tell my mom that 'She's Awesome' from me." Scott felt some of the worry lift off his chest just a little bit.

"I tell her that almost every day." Isaac said softly and Scott felt his heart break for the other boy. He really couldn't believe the changes he had seen in Isaac, from when he had first turned, to now. He knew a lot of that came from having someone as wonderful as his mom in his life.

Isaac cleared his throat. "Anyway, she also said that according to her medical chart, Ms. Blake has a peanut allergy. Then she went off on a little mini freak out about HIPPA violations and stuff I didn't really get, but... I know it's not, you know, magical or Druidic or whatever, but its a weakness right? Maybe we could use it?"

"I'll take any advantage I can get right now. Great work. You get some supplies and pick up Dr. Deaton and meet me here as soon as you can, OK? Oh, and get the venom to Allison when you see her. She'll know what to do."

"I'll be there soon." He assured and hung up.

Scott ran out from the tree line and through the open field surrounding the old building. He scented the air and was relieved that he couldn't smell anyone unfamiliar in the nearby vicinity. 'That short cut really worked!' he thought. He estimated that it gave him 15 minutes to plan this out. Right on cue, Mr. Argent, Alison and Stiles emerged from the bushes.

"Scott! Please, don't make me ride with that man again. My poor heart can't take it! And don't even get me started on my stomach. Blegh, I feel like Jared." He had to give it to Stiles; Even in the worst possible times, he put a smile of Scott's face.

"Sure, Buddy. Lets get your mind off that subject and focus on getting your dad back instead."


	4. Chapter 4

Scott crouched silently, waiting. He thought back to the preparations they had hurriedly made and hoped it was enough...

"Sure, Buddy. Lets get your mind off that subject and focus on getting your dad back instead." Stiles looked relieved to be doing something, anything really.

"What are our assets, Scott?" Chris asked. Scott was thankful he was here. He certainly had plenty of experience and knew how to plan.

"Here's what I know. Ms. Blake is most likely bringing the Sheriff here. Derek hasn't alerted me to any deviations in her course so until we hear otherwise, this is the spot. I'm estimating that we have about 15 minutes before she arrives. We have this structure for cover and to block her escape routes, though I know she's very strong and could probably bust through some of the rustier spots. Isaac and Dr. Deaton are on their way here with a small sample of Kanima venom which I've told Isaac to get to you, Allison." Her face had been grim before, but now she looked pleasantly surprised, like she expected him to ignore what she could contribute. Scott knew what Allison was capable of and he knew that if he didn't include her, his plan would fail. He looked around, confused for a moment. "You do have your bow with you, right?"

She blushed and pulled the bow out from it's hiding place in a near by shrub. "I didn't know if you'd want my help, sometimes you don't, but I'm glad you do. I want to help." She smiled at him and then at Stiles.

"We'll need you on the roof then. Or in the rafters if we can get her inside. That will give you the best vantage point, I think. Be careful though; she can really jump." He turned back to Mr. Argent. "Ethan and Aidan are on their way here now to help us. That makes us four werewolves and four humans."

"Why would they help us?" Stiles interrupted. "They've made their loyalties pretty clear."

Scott frowned. If he couldn't convince Stiles to let go of the past for a little while, how was he going to convince anyone else? "I didn't ask for their loyalty, Stiles, I asked for their help. And I've gotta say, they've been pretty darn helpful so far. I know that when this is all over and you're dad's safe and sound they'll go back to their pack and have to do things I'm not comfortable with, but for now, I'm going to take them at their word and accept any help that we can get." He looked Stiles right in the eye. "Will you?"

"I get it man, and you're right. Hell, if they want to help me and my dad, that certainly gives them more than a few brownie points in my book." He smiled at Scott and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Dr. Deaton was researching ways to break whatever Darach sacrifice spell thing it is that's giving her power. I don't really know anything about it, but if you can think of anything in that regard, Mr. Argent, please do. Aside from that, if she continues to follow the lowlands as she has been she should be coming in on that side of the clearing. Her last sacrifice archetype is guardians, which could mean you Mr. Argent, so be alert for that." Allison's dad's normally inscrutable face looked taken aback.

"You think that she would see me as a guardian? I'm a Hunter. Most supernatural creatures see me as a Killer." He was looking at Scott very intently, now.

"Sure, Mr. Argent. You're job is to protect innocent people from dangerous supernaturals. It's not like you're Gerard." Scott's eyes widened and he shut his mouth quickly. 'Some thoughts are only for your head, Scott' he chided himself. He looked up at Mr. Argent expecting his glare of impending doom and uncomfortableness that always made him want to hide behind Allison, but instead all he saw was a thoughtful expression.

"Thank you, Scott. It means something, that you can see the difference." He saw something in Mr. Argent's gaze, that wasn't acceptance, and it certainly wasn't approval, but maybe it was a start. Scott let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and glanced at Allison. She wasn't looking at him though; she was looking down at the new bow in her hands. He could see it was engraved with some French words he couldn't read. He had his hands full with English as it was.

"She's also allergic to peanuts" he said with a shrug. Mr. Argent just rolled his eyes. So much for progress.

He heard a rustling behind him and turned to see Ethan and Aidan enter the clearing They jogged over to stand on either side of Scott and Stiles. They looked nervous for a moment, but when the three smaller teens smiled at them they appeared to relax. Mr. Argent just frowned deeper, but everybody pretended not to notice.

"Lets get into places. Stiles, you're with me. You two, give Allison a boost will you?" She stepped lightly onto their cupped hands and they lifted her easily up to the lowest platform of the fire escape. "When she gets here, we need to try to get her away from Stiles' dad and keep her busy until Isaac and Dr. Deaton get here. Mr. Stilinski's safety is the priority."

With that, they all separated and found hiding spots in and around the old building.

That was ten minutes ago and Scott was getting nervous. What if he had miscalculated? It was what he spent most of his calculus classes doing, after all. What if Derek had lost the scent and Stiles' dad was taken to a different location. There were so many things that could go wrong and he was the one responsible for it all.

'Stiles isn't much better,' Scott thought. His friend was a bit restless at the best of times and now he could barely contain his nervous energy and keep quiet. Well, sort of quiet, anyway. He was whispering to himself over and over "keep going, just keep going." Scott didn't know what it meant, but if it were his mom in Stiles' dad's place, he knew he'd be saying worse stuff than that.

Just when he was about to burst, he heard some movement near the tree line and a cloaked figure came into view. He could see Mr. Stilinski draped over one shoulder and saw his back move with his breath.

"He's alive," he breathed out and Stiles stopped his new mantra and met Scott's gaze with so much emotion that he couldn't handle it.

Everyone stayed silent as the Darach moved closer. If they could trap her in the building that would be a good first step. When she was ten feet from the door, she stopped, and peered cautiously around her. 'She's not going in.' Scott thought with dread. He wondered if she could hear his heart beating. He wouldn't be surprised, it was almost deafening to him.

Just when he thought that she was going to turn away and bolt, a deep angry howl resounded through the hills and valleys and Ms. Blake made up her mind. She entered the building and shut the massive doors behind her. In trying to escape one wolf, she had unknowingly locked herself in with three werewolves, two angry Hunters and her intended sacrifice's overprotective son. Knowing Derek's moods, he might have made the same choice.

She made her way to the center of the room where the old equipment was still kept and slung Mr. Stilinski down onto the ground. As soon as she released him it was like the starting gun had gone off.

Scott exploded from his hiding spot and tackled the Darach around the waist, catching her off guard. They rolled to their feet and crouched in a fighting stance, his claws and fangs extended, standing between her and the Sheriff. She made a move forward, but he moved into her path preventing her from getting near the unconscious man. He could hear Stiles and Mr. Argent dragging him to relative safety behind a partial wall. Ethan and Aidan emerged to either side of her, surrounding her and the fight truly began. She went for Scott first and he dodged one blow before she kicked him under the ribs knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing into some crates. Stiles rushed over and began digging him out. Ethan came in and slashed her shoulder and before she could retaliate, Aidan slashed down her back. Screeching in pain she crouched down and quickly leapt clear of the melee and onto the other side of Ethan. She kicked his feet out from under him and went to stomp on his neck when Aidan kicked her in the stomach and against the back wall. The whole building rumbled and Scott looked up searching for Allison, to make sure she wasn't going to fall.

He saw her, holding on with both hands to some cables, but once the vibrations died down she moved to get into a better position. She began firing her arrows into the Darach, giving the wolves time to recover. Even though the arrow wounds healed quickly once they were removed, Scott could tell that they were still painful and that it was distracting her. Scott's breathing returned and he was about to rejoin the fight, when he saw Isaac climbing through the roof hatch and dropping down next to Allison with a test tube in his hand.

When she stopped firing to prep her arrows, the Darach went on the attack. Scott could see that she had pulled a couple of long daggers out of her cloak and was using them in some type of whirlwind style attack, cutting and slashing at the twins before they ever realized it was coming. They fell back from her attack and she was about to advance when Isaac dropped from above like a sack of bricks, landing on her. Scott dashed forward and threw himself on the pile with Aidan and Ethan doing the same, gripping her wrists and prying away the knives. Scott could see Deaton enter from a side door and head over to check on the Sheriff. He dropped a bag of supplies near Stiles who began going through it looking for his medical kit.

The Darach was struggling beneath them and Scott's focus went back to keeping her in place. He could hear her chanting something lowly. 'Uh, oh' he thought. He didn't know what was coming, but he doubted he'd enjoy it. He was right. When last word of the chant was uttered Scott felt a rumbling in the ground below.

"Earthquake?" asked Isaac from under him. Then a blast of scalding, hot water burst from the ground and right into them. It knocked all four werewolves off of her and they crashed into the walls before the geyser subsided back into the earth. Scott felt his spine shatter on impact. They all collapsed, coughing or unconscious to the floor.

The Darach stood then and Chris fired his whole clip into her torso. She screamed and advanced on the the men huddled around the Sheriff's unconscious body. Scott glanced up at Allison, but she wasn't in position. It looked pretty difficult to even move up there on the swaying catwalk let alone do arts and crafts with a paralytic toxin.

Then to his horror, he saw Stiles standing between his father and the advancing Darach. He started to claw towards him, trying to put his body in front of his best friend, but he knew he wasn't going to make it in time. Stiles stood firm, his normally non stop mouth set in a determined line and his eyes showing every bit of the terror he was feeling. Suddenly Derek was there, flipping through the air an landing in front of Stiles, despite all his pain and guilt. He slashed out at the Darach, spinning her around in a circle until she was facing him again.

Except now, she looked like she had when she first walked into their English class: pretty, with smiling eyes and shiny hair. Derek made a sound like the wind was knocked out of him and in that moment, Scott could tell that this was more painful to him than any physical wound had been. He lowered his arms to his sides.

"Jennifer, what are you doing?" he asked. She slowly moved into his body, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Derek, I wouldn't... I didn't..." tears trailing down her cheeks as she pulled him in with her gaze. Scott growled, at her, but he still couldn't move while his back knit itself back together. Without warning she plunged another long knife into Derek's stomach and he roared in pain before toppling over staring at the men behind him and at nothing at all.

She advanced on Stiles again morphing back into her natural, hideous shape. She got up close like she had with Mr. Stilinski and screeched right in his face. Scott knew that the killing blow was coming and he managed to make it up onto all fours when he saw Stiles cough and spray something all over Ms. Blake open screaming face. At first he thought that it was blood and he hobbled closer to try to get to his friend but when the Darach backed up he could clearly see that Stiles wasn't hurt. Somehow the Darach was though. She retreated from him and crouched down, trying to keep herself steady. She was making some awful sounds, but it didn't look like that was going to stop her as she struggled closer with murder in her eyes.

Scott still wasn't fully healed, but he figured that didn't matter right now and moved to stand over Derek's body and in front of Stiles and the others. He growled lowly and let his anger show, in his eyes. He heard Derek's sharp intake of surprise when he looked up at him, but Scott couldn't focus on that now. This monstrous woman in front of him could not be allowed to hurt his pack, the people he had sworn to himself that he would protect. He thought about what Ms. Morrell had said to him about how killing would prevent him from becoming a True Alpha, but he couldn't care less about that now. If being a True Alpha meant not acting and allowing the people he cared about to suffer, then he didn't want it anyway.

He extended his claws and stepped forward as the Darach sprang towards him.


	5. Chapter 5

The Darach crashed into him, but unlike in the classroom when he had been thrown back, this time she was sent flying. She landed with a crunch on the dirt packed floor and began to rise, but it seemed that she wasn't healing as well as she had been. Her movements were more heavy and unbalanced than they had been and she couldn't stand up straight.

Unfortunately, she had landed near one of the knives they had taken from her earlier and she picked it up and prepared again for battle. She moved towards him slashing and Scott knew that he couldn't let her get him with that knife. He was the only thing standing between the people he cared about and death at the hands of this madwoman. He had to be perfect.

He flashed back to when he had first filled in for the goalie at Lacrosse practice. When he had first gotten his new abilities, they had come so naturally to him. It was just him and his stick and the ball coming towards him. He had moved with confident, precise motions, not wasting any extra energy and he had been perfect. He did that by shutting out all other distractions.

He narrowed his focus to only the Darach. He saw in slow motion, the sweep of her arm and the descent of the blade and he easily stepped aside and felt the whoosh of air as it passed by his side. She slashed again aiming for his head and he leaned backwards millimeters outside of her range. Again and again, she came at him, but for each attack his conservation of movement put him in the right spot and out of harms way. He could see and interpret every movement and knew exactly how to position himself for the blow not to land. 'I should have been fighting like this the whole time" he thought. When he had first attempted fighting he had taken a similar style to Derek's and even after seeing Derek lose a lot of fights, it hadn't occurred to him until now that maybe that style didn't work very well. The way he fought now reminded him of Deucalion and he could see clearly why he was beaten so handily by the blind man.

'Rage can be powerful, but it tells your opponent what moves you're making and makes it harder to fight smart.' He could see that for all her rage, the Darach's berserker attack had left her tired and in worse shape than she had been in before. Her breath was coming in wheezes and gasps and her injuries had stopped healing entirely. He on the other hand was feeling better and better. 'It's time to end this before she kills herself,' Scott thought.

"Allison, now!" he hoped she was ready, and sure enough, an arrow came streaking down imbedding in Ms. Blake's thigh. She went to remove it, but as she grabbed hold of the shaft, all of her muscles relaxed and she landed face first in the dirt.

Dr. Deaton and Chris rushed forward, pouring lines of powders in intricate designs around the fallen woman. Scott thought it looked like some sort of knot or wreath. Kinda pretty even. 'I should ask Dr. Deaton for tattoo ideas when this is over.' he thought.

Stiles rushed over to him and wrapped him in a huge hug. "Dude, you were like Neo back there! You even have a bald, black mentor!"

Over his shoulder he heard Dr. Deaton whisper, "He is the One" and Scott looked back at him with suspicion. The doctor shrugged with a grin. "I love Lawrence Fishburne," he said simply with a twinkle in his eye.

"We did it Buddy." he said hugging his best friend back. He was so relieved that it was over, that he didn't even think about anything else until he heard a deep breath from behind some crates.

"Stiles, check on Isaac and the twins. I'm going to try to help Derek." He knelt next to his fallen friend. He could see that Derek had pulled the knife out of his gut and that his wound was closing. He knew from experience though, that the internal injuries were harder to mend.

"You came. Why?" He could still see it was hard for Derek to be here.

"I couldn't let Stiles think he was braver than me," he grunted offhand.

"Derek, c'mon. I can still smell the bad feelings you have about this place."

"An alpha protects his pack right? Even the annoying, runts who can't stop talking to save their life."

Scott was going to push for more, but he saw the wary look on Derek's face and knew he wouldn't be getting any answers with this many people around. "Later, then" and Derek nodded. He helped him sit up and surveyed the scene.

"What's the damage report?" he asked the room.

"Ethan's still knocked out, though his head wound closed," Aidan reported dragging himself and his brother out from behind a large vat of rainwater. "And my pelvis is almost fully healed."

"My collarbone too," Isaac said with a smile shuffling closer on his knees, one of his arms hanging limply by his side. "And my lung is working again."

He could see that Stiles was fine and he took Allison's neat flip onto the ground to be a good sign. How she did it in heeled boots was its own mystery. The sheriff had even begun to groan a bit, which sounded like music to his ears.

The only person who still seemed to be having trouble was Ms. Blake. He knew she was paralyzed, but she was having trouble breathing. "What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"Nothing a little prick won't fix." Dr. Deaton said and then he stabbed her in the thigh.

"What did you do that for? She's down." He knew that the doctor must have some residual anger towards the woman who had nearly strangled him to death, but he wasn't cruel.

"It's just an epipen, Scott."

"Why would you stab her with any pen?" To Scott it seemed to be an odd weapon to choose. He'd heard the phrase 'the pen is mightier than the sword,' but he didn't think that they were actually used to hurt people. 'You learn something new every day,' he thought.

"It's a steroid for her peanut allergy. That's why she's breathing so poorly."

He looked at Stiles who was holding up a little bag of peanuts and he now understood what had happened when he thought his friend had been coughing up blood. The implications made his heart beat faster.

"You faced down a murderer with a mouth full of nuts?! Are you insane? Where did you even get those?" Scott didn't mean to yell, but the memory of his best friend looking so helpless next to the screeching killer was stressing him out.

"I bought them at the hospital gift shop" Isaac said tentatively. "You said you wanted every advantage you could get..."

Scott took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Isaac looked down with worry and Scott could have kicked himself. "Isaac, thank you. You pretty much saved us all." Isaac's relieved smile lit up his face and he blushed with embarrassment at his friend's praise.

"Uh, excuse me, but I think I remember being heroically terrified in the face of danger, while he was busy re-growing a kidney. When you tell this story I want to be given credit for that at least." Stiles said, exasperated. He wasn't often called on to do anything physically dangerous and Scott knew that this was a sore spot for him despite his jokes.

"I don't think anyone will forget you defeated the monster by choking on some nuts. I'll definitely be telling that story to anyone that will listen," sniped Derek.

"Don't tell it like that! It was biological warfare."

"Oh yeah, very scientific."

Scott left them to continue their bickering and went over to look at the Darach. She was slowly regaining her breath, but it was still wheezy. Dr. Deaton rummaged through her cloak to find a small leather pendant in the shape of that loopy knot that Allison had taken pictures of from Mr Argent's desk. Scott could see shiny patches of dried blood all over it. When Deaton took it from her neck she began to struggle against the paralysis, but she slumped back down in defeat when he lit it on fire with his lighter.

"Will that stop it? All the terrified animals and everything?" Scott asked.

"Yes I think so, Scott. All that power she has been accumulating came at a price. Without the power of her sacrifices to call on she doesn't have the strength on her own to do anything dangerous"

"So what are we going to do with her?" Stiles wondered.

"I know what will happen," came a rough voice behind them. They all turned to see Sheriff Stilinski sitting up and rubbing his forehead. "I'm going to lock her up in a psych ward and throw away the key."


	6. Chapter 6

Stiles ran over and sank down next to his dad, hugging him fiercely. The tension in room the let out and everyone could breathe a bit easier, knowing that they had succeeded. Scott could hear some sniffles from Stiles, but he covered it up with an awkward pat and a "Huggy, huggy." Mr. Stilinski just smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Well? Is anyone going to tell me what happened?" he asked.

"Dad, I don't have any of my visual aids with me. We'll break out the chess set later and I'll tell you the tales of our heroism when I get you home." Derek coughed out 'nuts,' from where he sat with Isaac and Scott could see a few suppressed smiles.

"Just give me the gist, Son," the Sheriff said, his patience stretching already.

Scott spoke up, "After you were taken, we tracked you down, trapped the Darach and now you're awake."

"Thank you, Scott. Stiles, let me borrow your phone, I have to call this in."

"But Dad, I thought that you'd believe me now."

"I do Stiles, but we've still got to let people know she's the killer. She'll be arrested and prosecuted like any other criminal."

"But how are you going to explain this to them?" Stiles asked pointedly. The Sheriff didn't have an answer.

"I think I can help with that," Said Mr. Argent. "You accidentally took your son's cell phone this morning. During the course of your investigation you came across information that implicated Ms. Blake as the murderer. When you went to the school to find her, you prevented the murder of Lydia Martin, and she knocked you on your head when you were saving the girl. She abducted you, took your gun and brought you to this location where you awoke. You could tell that she was not sane, but it wasn't until she kissed you that you got an opportunity to disarm her. You had been eating peanuts as part of the heart healthy diet your son put you on and she began to go into anaphylactic shock. You subdued her and administered her epipen to prevent her from suffocating. Then you called for backup."

'Woah,' Scott thought, 'he is scary good at that.' He could tell he wasn't the only one that thought so and knew that the Sheriff at least, must be going over every word that Mr. Argent had ever told him.

"I think that's a plausible story," Sheriff Stilinski agreed "and unfortunately the one we'll have to go with, since the truth isn't an option."

"All we need to do is drive her car to this location and remove all traces of anyone else being here." Chris replied.

"Mr. Argent and Allison, you go get the car, please. If anyone sees a dark haired woman driving her car they might not be suspicious."

"Sure, Scott. Give us 30 minutes" Allison said and jogged off with Chris following her.

"Aidan, you'd better get Ethan to my mom to be checked out. Head injuries are no joke, even for a werewolf." He had noticed Aidan checking his brother over and saw the worry on his face. "I'll tell my mom to expect you. Ethan will know who she is when he wakes up. Leave his keys and we'll take care of his car." Aidan smiled gratefully and picked up his brother. He limped a little, but not enough to slow him down. He was out the door in seconds.

"Derek, Isaac how are you two feeling?" he asked.

"I'll live," grunted Derek as he got to his feet, preparing to leave.

"What about that talk," Scott reminded him.

"I didn't forget," Derek growled and left the building as quickly as he could. Scott just let him go. There was only so far you could push him, before he just closed off.

Isaac lifted both arms in a shrug at Derek's mood and to demonstrate that he was healed. "Are you sticking around Isaac?"

"Yep, I'm staying," the taller boy replied matter-of-factually. Scott still didn't get why Derek had kicked Isaac out of his loft. Aside from the whole kicking and orphan out on the street aspect, it seemed crazy to him to blow off your most willing supporter. There was no one who wanted to be helpful as much as Isaac did.

"OK, then, start sniffing around for any blood or supplies. We don't want to leave any evidence of ourselves here. Dr. Deaton, if we break the powder ring, will we still be able to contain her?"

"Yes Scott, though the Kanima venom will probably wear off in the next 20-30 minutes. Right now she appears to have fallen asleep, though that's not unusual after the surge of adrenaline dissipates. You should probably cuff her, Sheriff, before she regains function in her limbs."

"I was just about to do that." He separated himself from Stiles and walked over. Although he looked a bit stiff and clearly had a headache, he seemed to be OK. Dr. Deaton began sweeping up the powder using a small dust broom and pan he got from his bag. 'I guess he's done stuff like this before' Scott thought as he took out his phone to call his mom.

After just one ring she picked up. "Scott? Are you hurt, baby?"

"No Mom. I'm fine and we found Mr. Stilinski and he's safe now too." She let go of the breath she was holding, relieved. "But Mom, do you remember Ethan? He's the guy who took Danny in on the night of the pile up." He heard her 'Mmmhmm' of assent, "Well he hurt his head and I told his brother to bring him to you. He's like me, Mom, so he might heal quicker than anyone else would expect."

"I'll make sure I look after him, then. Scott was anyone else hurt? What about Stiles and Isaac?"

"There's not a scratch on Stiles, and Isaac is already healed, but I'll tell him you asked about him." He made eye contact with the boy and saw his touched smile. "I love you, Mom. I'll see you at home."

"Love you too, Scott," she said and they hung up.

When they were all cleaned up Dr. Deaton took his car and left. Scott got a text from Allison telling him where the car was and that they were already leaving the area. "I guess that just leaves us. Issac, can you take Ethan's car and drive it over to Clover Pond? Stiles and I will come meet you after the cops show up." He tossed him the keys.

"Sure thing, Scott." Isaac said as he left the building.

Stiles handed his phone to his dad and gave him another hug. "OK Dad, we'll be watching from the trees until backup gets here. Here's a snack to tide you over." He handed him the leftover peanuts. "I don't want you to get low blood sugar."

"Thanks, Son. And thank you Scott. You really held it all together tonight. I'm glad my son has you for a best friend." He held out his hand for Scott to shake, but when he took it, Mr. Stilinski pulled him in for a hug too. It felt pretty good

"So, Scott," Stiles began when Scott thought they were far enough away from the crime scene, "how did it feel being the Alpha dog tonight?"

"What? I wasn't!" Scott scoffed. "Derek was there, and the twins. They're alphas, not me." That felt a little like a lie, but he wasn't ready to think about possibly being a 'True Alpha' yet.

"Then why was everybody listening to you and following your orders. Even Derek." Stiles pointed out.

"We all had a common goal," he stated simply.

"Uh, Nope," Stiles scoffed.

"It was the right thing to do," he said with feeling.

"Oh Yeah, that's super popular these days. Try again."

"I had a plan?"

"Did you really? It seemed like you were making it up on the fly. My bad."

"Fine, I don't know Stiles, you tell me. Why do you think they listened to me?" Scott asked rhetorically. He did not expect Stiles' next words.

"Uh, because you're a great leader? Because, you care about them and they know they can trust you? Because you make them feel good about themselves?"

"Stiles, don't"

"Why not? Its true. Do you think if Derek had asked, the Argent's would have been involved? Not a chance. Ethan and Aidan? What a nightmare that would have been. I doubt he would have even thought to ask for Deaton's help. Face it, Buddy, they only got involved because it was you asking."

"Yeah, but that's not because I'm an alpha."

"No, its even better. It's because you're a good friend. You're a friend to people who don't even know they're your friends yet! People can tell that you are someone that they can rely on. They can see that you always try to do what's right. They know you'll try to protect them if they're in danger, just like you do for me. You're already doing the job of an alpha, and doing it better than any other alpha we've met."

Scott was silent for a while, absorbing what Stiles had said. He knew that he tried to do all those things, but not because he was trying to be an alpha. He was just trying to be himself. He remembered what Dr. Deaton had said in the vault about strength of character. Maybe this is what he was talking about. Stiles was right, now that he thought about it; The others had followed his lead tonight. As to how it felt, that was a different matter.

"To answer your original question, I felt stressed, knowing that if we failed it was all on me. It was a lot of responsibility, which you know I have issues with," he said thinking back to that horrible night that Stiles had saved Scott from himself. "But... It also felt good when I gave people a job and I could tell they were going to really try. It wasn't like with the mountain ash pills where I was on my own. It felt like I could trust people to do their jobs because they trusted me to do mine. If that's what it's like all the time, well it wasn't so bad."

Stiles just clapped him on the shoulder and they walked out of the woods, and onto the dirt parking lot near the pond. Isaac was there, leaning against the vehicle and he smiled when he saw them.


	7. Chapter 7

After leaving the pond, Stiles flipped open his laptop and directed them to the where his dad's cell phone was supposed to be. Thankfully, it was near a bridge, but it still took nearly 20 minutes of splashing around in Beacon Brook before they found the thing. Sopping wet from the knees down they got back in the car and dropped Stiles off at home. Isaac and Scott parked the car in the garage near Allison's apartment and walked the rest of the way home.

"Hey Scott?" Isaac began tentatively. "When you were fighting the Darach earlier, I saw your eyes turn red and I think Derek and Aidan saw it too. Does that mean you're an alpha?"

Scott sighed. He so wasn't ready to have this conversation. "I don't really know what it means yet. Right now it's just a theory of Dr. Deaton's." Hopefully that would be enough for Isaac.

"Does he think you're an alpha now?" Isaac asked. "Because I do."

"What? You do?" Scott was incredulous. 'What is it with people lately?' he thought.

"Yeah, I have for a while," Isaac said. "I mean, I know that technically Derek's still my alpha, and I try my best to be a good beta for him, but it feels right, I guess, following your lead." Isaac sighed and then continued. "When I agreed to have Derek bite me, I thought that it was because I wanted to have more power in my life. More control over my choices, you know? But it seems that ever since, what I've really been looking for was a place to belong. " He blushed a little at saying these personal things out loud, but pressed on anyways. "I like it when someone notices if I come home late or if I'm in a bad mood. I'm actually kind of glad Derek kicked me out. I love living at your house."

"Yeah, me and my mom really love having you there." He patted the taller boy's back gently. "I'm glad you have such a good relationship with her." He really was. If anyone deserved to feel loved by a parent, it was Isaac.

"It's not your mom that makes it feel like home to me, it's you Scott," he confessed. "My brother was a lot older than me and we weren't that close before he died. I feel like you're more more like my brother now, even though I've only really known you well for the past couple months. I hope that's not weird," he said, and held his breath.

"Well, its a little weird," Scott said with a grin, breaking the tension, "But I feel the same way. You're my bro." Even though Isaac was the same age as him and a lot taller, he had begun to think of him as a younger brother. Isaac beamed, reassured.

"Anyways, when you need my help or give me a job it just feels good, I guess, to be trusted. It makes me feel like part of your team. Part of the pack."

"That pack of humans thing Derek said, that wasn't a real thing, you know." Scott hadn't refuted the statement at the time, because his friends didn't think of a pack the same way as the werewolves did, but he didn't want to give Isaac mixed signals.

"You may not think so, but any other wolf can sense what they are to you. Why else would Deucalion leave Stiles and Alison alone and pursue Danny and Lydia instead? Alison's family name protects her, but to mess with Stiles would be like declaring war. Just caring about them keeps them safe." Scott hadn't thought about it like that before. To be honest, he had tried not to think about a lot of this stuff, but tonight had been a long series of weird conversations with some violence sprinkled in.

They walked the rest of the way home in silence. Scott thought about what it would mean to lead a pack. What would change about his life? 'It would be nice to be the one to be in charge and make the plans.' If he learned anything about tonight's events it was that teamwork and planning really made a difference. Cora had been right when she had said that all they did was react to stuff that had already happened. It had felt so good to be doing something right for once instead of showing up too late. A big part of the reason they were so successful was that no one fought him when he told them what he needed them to do. Sure, there was some back and forth, but he hadn't had to battle over every single aspect. It put more responsibility on him, but he knew that it was worth it if it got results.

Another good thing about being an alpha was the pack. He now knew what Derek was talking about when he said a pack makes you stronger. He couldn't have come up with a plan if it hadn't been for the contributions of everyone else. Having a research team and banshee intuition had helped him find the location, but without Ethan and Aidan patrolling and playing bodyguard, he would have been too worried to piece it all together. Derek came through for him when he needed him to and Isaac and Stiles provided the missing piece needed to weaken the Darach. He was even able to call upon the Allison's skill with a bow as well as Mr. Argent and Dr. Deaton's unique assets. Without any of them they all would have failed.

He also really liked having so many people in his life now. Before it had been just him and his mom, or him and Stiles. It made those relationships really strong, but it was still nice to have more people to care about and who cared about him.

He thought of the things he could do if he were an alpha. He could help keep the peace between Hunters and the werewolves. When they worked together they could accomplish a lot. He and Stiles could help train wolves in how to control themselves so that they wouldn't have to be strapped down with medieval torture devices. He could prevent innocent people from being harmed. He still shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to those kids with the fireflies. 'This town has seen enough death to last a lifetime.' There were a lot of things that would make a difference.

When they got home Scott was still deep in thought. Isaac went off to the kitchen and Scott went upstairs to pass out. He couldn't fall asleep and just lay awake thinking. Alone in the darkness he began to think of the negatives that went along with being an alpha.

'Would I be able to go to college?' he wondered. He was doing better in school this year but he had intentionally been trying to stay away from Derek's pack. If he had his own pack he couldn't distance himself from them just to get a better grade on his history midterm. Could he hold down a job if he had to keep dashing away to deal with one crisis after another? He was the only werewolf he knew of that had a job. 'How the heck did Derek and Deucalion afford their apartments?' he marveled.

And what about his mom? They weren't struggling to pay the mortgage or anything, but they weren't rich either. She worked really hard for the life they had and he didn't want to add more to her burden.

What if he wanted to get married or have kids. Was he supposed to live with a pack for the rest of his life? Derek's pack had lived with him, and he knew that the Hale family had all lived in that big house before it was burned down. He didn't know about Kali or Ennis but the twins lived in Deucalion's apartment. If he was the alpha would he be expected to provide a house for his pack? That level of responsibility was daunting.

Responsibility. He knew he took too much on himself already and had nearly died of guilt in a highway restroom. Would he spend every day waiting to see if his decisions had dire consequences? What if someone he cared about died on his watch. How could he live with that? He was only sixteen; How could he take care of anybody?

As he lay awake, quietly freaking out, he listened to the sounds of his house. Isaac heated something in the microwave and ate it before heading up to his room. He had no trouble falling asleep; Scott could hear his even breathing. He noted the brush of leaves against his house and some small nocturnal animals digging a hole under his porch. He'd see about that tomorrow. He heard his mom's car pull into the driveway and got up to go see her.

She looked tired but relieved to see him when he walked down the stairs and he fell into her arms. The tension fell away and he felt like a kid again for the first time in days. His mom ushered him over to the couch and they sank down into it. She had him lay his head in her lap and she played with his hair like she did whenever he was sick.

Just like that, everything came tumbling out. She listened as he told her everything that had happened since the alpha pack had first shown up and the animal attacks started. She knew about a lot of it already, but his red eyes and Dr. Deaton's suspicions were news to her. She didn't interrupt him though, and he went on to tell her about tonight's events and his conversations with Stiles and Isaac. He told her about his worries and fears about how being an alpha would change his life and how he didn't know how he could handle it all. He also told her all the good things that could come from being an alpha, not just for him and his friends, but for the whole town. Finally unburdened, he talked himself to sleep.

He woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking and he already felt better than he had the night before. He padded into the kitchen to see his mom at the stove, flipping pancakes over on the griddle and Isaac setting the table. He walked over to his mom and gave her a big good-morning hug. Since it was Saturday, she didn't have to go into work until 10 o'clock and a big breakfast sounded perfect to him.

"So, Scott, any plans for today?" She asked him when after everything had been eaten; With two teenaged werewolves in the house there were never any leftovers.

"Well, I was thinking about going to visit Cora, Aidan and Ethan in the hospital. I know they should be healing soon and I don't want them to start fighting again. Derek's deadline is coming up quick and Cora's not the most cool headed at the best of times."

"Scott, wasn't it this type of thing that you were talking about last night? Are you sure you want to involve yourself in this?" She asked him, neutrally. Isaac looked up with interest. He began clearing the table as unobtrusively as possible to give them space, but Scott thought he probably wanted to know the answer even more than his mom did.

She had a point, though. He hadn't forgotten all the stress he had put himself through last night, going through pros and cons and worst possible scenarios, but now that the choice was upon him he knew that he couldn't just ignore it anymore.

"I can't avoid it, Mom," he said finally. "Even though it might be easier just to stay out of it, I don't think I could if I tried. You always told me to be a leader, not a follower, and I know you were mostly talking about drugs and peer pressure and stuff, but if I can make this situation better, I should do it right?"

"Yes, Scott, I think you should. You're making the right choices for the right reasons. No matter what happens, I'm so proud of you, Honey." She got up and gave him a syrupy kiss on the cheek. He tried to wipe it away but it was too sticky.

"Ugh, Mom!"

He heard her chuckle on her way into the kitchen and figured he could put up with a sticky cheek every once in awhile if it made her happy.


	8. Chapter 8

After breakfast they showered, changed and all rode in together. The emergency department was quieter than usual and it looked like his mom would have some time to catch up on some paperwork. She went to clock in and Scott and Isaac went to the info desk.

"We're looking for the room of Cora Hale, please" Scott inquired.

"Oh, my," said the elderly volunteer manning the station. "What strapping young men! I bet she'll be happy to see you two," she said with a wink.

They both blushed, unused to such talk. "Umm, thank you, Ma'am," said Isaac.

"That girl sure is popular today," she said looking through her list for the room number. "She's already had several visitors this morning already." The boys exchanged glances. Looks like the whole Hale family was here. Great. The chance of a fight breaking out had just increased dramatically.

"Ah there she is, Room 345 in the east wing." They thanked her and made their way to Cora's room. When they got to her door, Scott knocked and they entered. As expected Derek and Peter were there and Cora was now awake. No one looked particularly happy to see them, and Scott wished they had stayed back with the nice old lady.

"Well, well," Peter said drolly. "Looks like the gang's all here. I hear I missed out on some fun last night."

"I don't know about fun, but we got Stiles' dad back and Ms. Blake's in custody, so I'm happy with the outcome," Scott said a bit sourly. He didn't know how Peter did it, but everything he said sounded like a put down. He knew Derek could be moody, but at least he said what he meant.

"How are you feeling Cora?" Isaac asked a bit desperately, trying to keep the conversation on track. She hadn't been pleased to be left out the night before and he had hoped she would be in a better mood this morning.

"Much better," Cora said curtly, "and once I get out of here I'm going to find Aidan and give him a taste of his own medicine. I can already smell him." She began to growl. 'Wow, that didn't take long,' Scott thought.

"Didn't Derek tell you?" Isaac asked. "They helped us last night and they're not as bad as I thought."

"Oh, I heard, but that doesn't excuse what they did to Boyd. Or did you forget about that, Isaac?" she said caustically.

"I didn't forget, Cora," he ground out through clenched teeth, "but you know as well as I do that Deucalion makes the decisions and has a history of killing his pack members." Isaac started to move closed to her bed. "You don't know what it's like to be in a situation like that! Where the person you're supposed to trust over everyone else is one step away from snapping at any little thing." His breath was coming heavier now and Scott was beginning to see that this situation was getting out of control. "You try living in fear every day, wondering what would set him off this time." Scott could hear that his breathing had turned growly and he would bet that his eyes glowed yellow. Derek stepped in between Isaac and Cora's bed, his eyes flaring red.

"Step back," Derek commanded, but Isaac continued growling at the girl who actually looked a little apprehensive. Scott knew that Isaac had a lot of issues that he hadn't really dealt with, but now was not the time.

"I said, step back!" Derek repeated, getting right in his face. Isaac's gaze was now focused on the alpha, but didn't he didn't relent at all.

"Isaac!" Scott snapped, getting his attention. Just like when he fought with Ethan on the field trip, Isaac seemed to come out of a violent haze and he looked around to find Scott. His expression turned sheepish as he stepped back away from Derek and Cora and moved back towards where Scott was still standing in the doorway. "Just wait for me outside." Scott said. "I'll be right out."

Isaac dropped his head in a nod and left the room. Scott looked around to the Hales taking in Peter's interest, Cora's disbelief, and Derek's resignation.

He turned to Cora first. "I'm glad you're feeling better, but you were the one who attacked Aidan to begin with. You say you want to do something and not just wait around for the bodies to be found, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Rushing in, by yourself, without a strategy, will get you hurt or killed, just like it did yesterday. You're strong, but impulsive, and you need to learn to control your anger instead of letting it control you." He paused for a moment and continued. "You may also want to think before using that spiral symbol again. Your family seems to throw it around a lot, but it never seems to end well for any of you." He looked at Peter specifically.

"Peter, the reason you were left out is that I don't trust you. Your snide remarks and condescending attitude are not helpful. You are always pointing out that you're not as strong as you once were and how you need a pack to be stronger, so here's some advice. Be a person who someone would actually want to have in their pack. Be dependable, and willing to help. Try to offer advice that doesn't sound like you have a hidden agenda." He took in Peter's stunned face and continued. "Despite all your past deeds, Derek lets you stay with him. I can see that you sometimes try to help and I know that there must be more to you than the manipulative jerk you seem like most of the time. But if you don't shape up Derek could put you out like he did to Isaac, and unlike Isaac, you won't have me to turn to."

Scott then turned to Derek. He didn't look angry anymore, but he did seem a bit defeated. He couldn't add to Derek's problems right now.

"I know that Deucalion's deadline is tonight. I still want to talk to you about yesterday, but I know you have a lot on your plate right now. I'm here though, if you need to talk to someone." Derek nodded at him without speaking. Scott left the room and closed the door behind him.

He saw Isaac sitting in a small waiting area down the hall. He had his head in his hands and jumped a little when Scott put his hand on his shoulder. He didn't look up when Scott sat down next to him.

"I heard what you said in there about how a good pack mate is dependable and can control his anger. I get it, Scott. I'll pack my stuff up when we get back to your house and find somewhere else to stay," he said miserably.

"What? No!" Scott was appalled. "Isaac, I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay"

Isaac looked up quickly and wiped a tear track off his cheek. "You do? But how can you rely on me if I keep losing my temper? First with Ethan and now with Cora and Derek."

"We just need to find you a better anchor. You have a lot of issues with your dad and he seems to be like mistletoe for you." Isaac gave him a puzzled look. "You know, like Dr. Deaton said, it's both a poison and a cure. I'm actually glad that you let some of your anger out about how he treated you. And you stood up for the twins, which was really big of you. Honestly, if I did have a pack, you would be the first wolf I'd want to join."

Isaac let out a relieved laugh and wiped his eyes again. When he was ready, he got up and followed Scott towards Ethan's room. It was further down the hall, but like Cora said, they could smell where to find him.

When they got to the right room they knocked on the door frame and went in. Ethan was sitting up in bed and talking to Aidan who it appeared had spent the night there.

"Hey guys, how're you feeling?" Scott asked.

"A lot better," Ethan said. "Aidan told me about what happened after I hit my head. How you went all alpha on her and she couldn't even touch you. No wonder Duc's afraid of you."

"I don't know about that,' Scott scoffed. "I've met the guy, remember? I think I could tell if he was afraid of me."

"Well, maybe not of you right now, but of what you're becoming," Aidan replied. "That's why he's messing with Derek. He thought that if he could get him to turn on his pack and kill you before you became a true alpha then he wouldn't have to go against you directly and potentially trigger your instincts. From what I saw last night it's probably too late for that now," he said, resigned.

"So what? We're back to being enemies?" Scott asked.

"We don't want that Scott," Ethan spoke up. "We've been talking and we were hoping that we could join up with you."

Scott was about to interrupt, but Aidan went on quickly. "It's not like we're being abused in the same way as our old pack, but living with Deucalion isn't much better. He's the one that killed Ennis, you know. I heard Deaton say he was going to pull through and then Deucalion crushed his skull in. He's killed other alphas in our pack too. Whenever someone looks weak or mutinous, he finds his opportunity, does it and then replenishes the ranks."

Scott was horrified and he could feel Isaac's arm press up next to his for support. He hadn't truly realized what kind of monster he was dealing with. How was he supposed to help the twins against this?

"We haven't used much money from our parent's life insurance, since we only just got access to it when we turned 18 this summer," said Ethan. "So you don't have to worry about extra mouths to feed. We just need a place to stay."

'18?' Somehow this caught his attention. "Why are you in our grade in school then? Did you travel a lot like Allison?"

"No, Scott, "Aidan said, amused. "We told the school we were juniors so that Deucalion could use us to keep tabs on you."

"Well then, why not just live on your own?"

"We will, eventually, but Deucalion's not going to just let us go. We need the strength of a pack in order to go against him. We want you to be our alpha, Scott," Ethan said, hopefully.

"As hard as it is to admit, we're not strong enough without you." Aidan added embarrassed. "And in all my life, I've never met another werewolf who I thought would be as good an alpha as you."

Scott closed his eyes. He could feel the panic from last night rising again, but he forced it back down. He had already made his mind up this morning, and now he had to follow through. With a deep breath he turned to Isaac.

"So, Isaac, would you like to join my pack?"

The taller boy just beamed.


	9. Chapter 9

"OK, so how do we do this?" Ethan asked nervously.

"Do what?" asked Scott.

"Become part of your pack," Aidan said, exasperated. "Do you have some sort of test or something? Our first pack made us kill a hunter and bring back his head or they would have killed us. And Deucalion had us kill our entire old pack to gain their strength. So what's it going to be?" He sounded resigned to anything at this point.

"Nothing like that!" Scott insisted. "I'd never ask you to do anything like that." He thought for a moment and then came up with an idea. "You don't have to prove yourselves to me. In fact, you already proved last night that you're the kind of people I'd want in a pack." The twins relaxed, relieved. "But, you do have to prove yourself to my mom and Stiles." They looked confused. "You have to show my mom that you're nice, thoughtful, guys with good manners so that she'll let you stay in our house. And Stiles has been my best friend all my life so his opinions matter to me. Just be nicer to him and don't take his sarcasm personally and you should be fine."

"OK, Scott, that doesn't seem too hard." Ethan said laughing.

"Actually, I was going to go invite him and his dad to have dinner with us tonight. Isaac, can you take them home and get them settled in? I'm going to go over to the Police Station, since Stiles is probably not letting his dad out of his sight."

"No prob, bro." Scott turned to leave and passed a nurse coming in with Ethan's discharge instructions. He should probably warn his mom about this before she got home to a full house.

He took the stairs down to the emergency department. Most people knew him there, but he knew protocol and reported in at the main desk so that his mom could come out to meet him. She took him back to her small office and closed the door behind them.

"What's up, Honey?" she asked, leaning against her desk.

"Mom, you know how we talked this morning about me being a leader and making good choices?" He continued when she nodded. "Well, I am an alpha now. But it's not just to Isaac. Ethan and Aidan want to join too and they need a place to stay for a little while. They didn't feel safe in their old pack, so I already said they could stay with us. I hope that's alright with you." he said hopefully.

"Scott, I know I don't understand everything about your life now, but Sweetheart, I know you. And if you really think this is what needs to happen, then I'll support you. I don't know how we're going to keep enough food stocked in the house with four boys, but we'll figure it out together."

Every time he thought his mom couldn't get any cooler, she did. He pulled her into a big hug. "Thanks for being so understanding, Mom. I don't know how I'd do this without you."

"You just stay as good as you are. I'm the envy of the nurses pool, having such a caring and responsible son. I think we're both pretty lucky to have each other."

Scott agreed. He let her know he was going to invite the Stilinskis over for dinner and let her get back to work.

He walked the short distance from the Hospital to the Police Station and spotted his best friend draped across several plastic chairs as soon as he walked in the door. Stiles' ability to fall asleep in the most uncomfortable positions probably came from his many hours in this lobby, so he was right at home. Scott just chuckled and began shaking his buddy awake.

"Huh, wha?" Stiles grumbled inarticulately and he opened his eyes. "Oh, hey, Scott. What's up?" He sat up and Scott sat down beside him.

"Well, I wanted to come to tell you myself, that I agreed to be the alpha for a new pack. Ethan and Aidan asked me to help them leave Deucalion's pack and I said yes and they're going to live with me, my mom, and Isaac for a little while until we figure all this out. I wanted you to be the first to know, after my mom. What do you think?" Scott blurted out, all in one breath.

"You're lucky I'm so naturally alert right after waking, because that was a lot of info you just threw at me." He gave a big yawn to accentuate his point. "I think it's great, buddy. You're a natural at this, and I'll be there to help you. The more the merrier, right?"

"I'm glad you think so, because all I can think about are ways I could mess up," Scott confessed.

"Hey, I know this is your thing, but I'm gonna be there and I'm going to help you, just like always. Just because your house has turned into a big sleepover, doesn't mean that I'm going to bail on you. I think there's ample evidence that I can get comfortable with the weirdest of situations."

"That's good," Scott said, "'cause there's one more thing." He made sure that no one else was around and then showed Stiles his new eye color. His friends mouth fell open and for once he was speechless. "Dr. Deaton thinks it's because I'm something called a 'True Alpha' though I don't really know for sure what that means."

"Actually," Stiles began, thinking hard, "I think I may have seen something like that in the Bestiary. I'll have Lydia translate it when I take her home."

"She's here?" Scott asked.

"Yeah they wanted her to give her statement about Ms. Blake's attack. She's in there now with her parent's lawyer, but both of her parents are away on business trips so I'm going to take her home and hang out until they get back in a couple of hours."

Scott decided to wait around until she came out, and Stiles told him about what had happened after they left. The police had shown up and taken Ms. Blake into custody. No one could figure out how her face had gotten like that, but fingerprints don't lie. Her explanation about magical sacrifices and poison arrows went a long way to convincing everyone that she should plead insanity and she was going to be placed in a state run mental health facility until her trial. Scott told him about Lydia's discovery about what she was.

"As if she couldn't get any more perfect, now she helps save my dad and has developed magic powers," he sighed dreamily. Scott just rolled his eyes with a smile.

After about a half and hour, they let Lydia leave and she smiled when she saw the two friends waiting for her. Her neck and wrists looked worse in the light of day and Scott was filled with anger again at the thought of someone hurting one of his friends. If it had been Allison who had been attacked, he didn't know if he'd be able to control himself. He calmed himself down and smiled back at Lydia.

"How'd it go in there?" Stiles asked.

"Not bad, they took a lot of pictures of my injuries and wanted to know why I ran away instead of contacting the police, but since I have a history of freaking out and running naked through the woods, I bet they thought this was an improvement," she said, dryly.

"Well, I'm glad you're OK." Scott said. "You were a real help last night. We probably would have been too late again without you."

"I'm glad I could help out. It's better than being afraid because I don't know what's going on or finding dead bodies everywhere I go. I'll let you know if I get any more feelings, and you let me know if I can help with anything else, OK?"

"Well, actually," Stiles began, "we do have some more translations that we were hoping you'd help with."

"Sure, and maybe we can check to see if there's anything in there about banshees while we're at it," she agreed readily.

"Well then." Stiles stuck out his elbow in invitation and for once she took it. "Your chariot awaits." He guided her to the door with a cheery glance back at Scott.

"If you're done before 7," Scott called after them, "you're invited to dinner at my house. Your dad too, Stiles." All he got was a backward wave from his best friend, but he could hardly blame him for his tunnel vision. He had certainly been guilty of the same thing with Allison.

Allison. He needed to talk to her too. They'd been out of sync since she had returned from France and they had never had a chance to talk like she had asked on the first day back. Well, there was no time like the present. He was right in the downtown area anyways.

Scott walked the few blocks to her apartment building and rang the buzzer.

"Yes?" Chris answered. Oh, good. He may have been allied with him the night before, but Scott knew that wouldn't change Mr. Argent's ideas about seeing his daughter.

"Uh, Hi, Mr. Argent. Is Allison home?" he asked nicely.

"She is," came his curt reply.

"Oh, well can I come up and talk to her?"

There was silence for awhile, and then the speaker crackled again and Allison's voice came out. "Come on up, Scott." He heard Mr. Argent's protests in the background but the door unlocked and he went in. He took the stairs to give Allison more time to argue with her dad.

When he knocked on her door, Allison opened quickly and ushered him back to her room. "My dad is going to stay in his study, so we should be fine for awhile."

"Cool." Now that he was here, he didn't really know how to start. Thankfully, Allison wasn't as awkward as him.

"So did everything work out last night? You didn't call, so I assumed that everything was alright, but I wasn't sure." She sat down on her bed and crossed her legs, Indian-style.

"Yeah," he said sitting down in her desk chair. "Lydia's the only one still injured, but it looks like it's mostly just bruising and no scarring."

"Good. I'll call to check on her later," she said. "Scott, I wanted to talk to you about why I had to break up with you last year," she said taking a deep breath. "Something you said last night made me think about it again and I realized we never got to talk."

"What did I say?" he asked.

"You said there was a difference between my dad and Gerard. How my dad was a guardian, which implied that Gerard was a monster."

Scott winced. "Yeah as soon as I said that, I knew it was too much."

"No it wasn't, Scott, Not really," she assured him. "There is a difference and it took me too long to see it." She looked down at her hands and continued. "I let Gerard convince me that I needed to get vengeance for my mom's death. I let him use me for his plan to capture Derek. Even before that, I could tell that Kate was lying to me and trying to manipulate me, but I didn't try to stop her either, until it was too late. You and my dad tried to get me to think about what I was doing, but I just was too angry or scared to see reason." She looked up again and met his eyes. "That was the real reason I broke up with you, Scott. If I can't trust myself to know what's right, I could just keep putting you and everyone else in danger. Someday, I'm supposed to be a leader for the hunters, but I don't want to lose control again. I have to work on myself, before I can be in a relationship with you."

"I know you need time, Allison, and I'm still happy to give it to you, but you should know that you don't have to try to be what other people want you to be." He got up from the chair and sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and her hair smelled just the same as it had when they were together. "Don't try to change yourself into Kate or Gerard or even your dad's idea of who you should be. Just be yourself. You're already pretty great."

She looked over at her new bow and brought it over to him. "Do you know what the engraving says?"

"No, I just assumed it was something french."

"It's Greek, actually. It says 'Know Thyself.' My dad got it for me as a way to remind me that whenever I use it, it should be because I'm making my own decisions, and not for anyone else's agenda."

"Your dad's a really smart guy, even though he doesn't like me much."

"I think he'd probably like you a lot more, if he didn't already know that I like you so much." Scott's blush was epic but it made Allison smile.


	10. Chapter 10

Scott spent the rest of the afternoon with Allison, just catching up and talking about how they had spent their summer, but it was almost 5 o'clock and Scott wanted to bring her up to speed before he went home.

"Allison, I wanted to talk to you and your dad about something that just happened earlier today."

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "OK, well come out to the living room and I'll go get him."

Scott had barely made himself comfortable before Mr. Argent came out of his study. He got the impression that Chris had just been pacing in the study all this time, listening for any suspicious sounds.

Mr. Argent sat down across from Scott in the big armchair and frowned when Allison sat down on the couch right next to Scott. 'I bet he thinks we're getting back together.' Scott thought. 'I wish.'

"Hello, Scott," Mr. Argent began, "Allison tells me you have something to say to us." He looked like he would not approve of anything Scott could possibly say. 'Oh, well. What else is new?' he thought.

"That's right, Mr. Argent. I don't know if this will mean anything to you two, but I wanted you to hear it from me first, just in case." He took a deep breath and pressed on. "Some of the other werewolves have asked me to be their alpha, and I have accepted. Isaac, Ethan and Aidan are now in my pack."

It was if he had set off a bomb in the middle of their apartment. "Who did you kill to become alpha?" Chris shouted. "Derek or Deucalion? Or was it Kali?" he demanded, getting up and arming himself. He grabbed Allison and pulled her behind him.

"No one, I swear!" Scott shouted. He scrambled behind the couch looking for cover. "I didn't take the power from anyone. It's because I'm a True Alpha! That's all." When he didn't hear any gunfire he peeked back over the top of the couch. Chris was just staring at him in shock and Allison peeked around his shoulder curiously. "I'm guessing you've heard of that before."

Mr. Argent lowered his weapon and sat back down. He kept the gun in his hand, but Scott thought it was more like a security blanket than anything. "Who told you about that?" Mr. Argent asked.

"What's a True Alpha?" wondered Allison aloud. She moved to sit back down on the couch but her dad had her sit right next to him instead. Scott didn't know if he should sit or stay behind the furniture. "Better to be safe than sorry," he told himself and stayed where he was.

"Dr. Deaton told me that a True Alpha is a werewolf that attains the strength and powers of a regular alpha based on his strength of character and force of will, and not from killing or stealing the power from someone else," he said answering both their questions at once. "That's all I know about it, but my eyes turn red now so there must be something going on."

"That was a very concise answer Scott. Yes, that is how a werewolf becomes a true alpha." He said that last part robotically, still stunned by the news.

"Why is it such a shock to you then?" He felt a little hurt that Mr. Argent didn't think he was good enough to be a true alpha.

"I'm shocked, because it's such a rare thing. Most hunters, most werewolves even, think it's a myth. It's usually only in very old werewolf families that the lore is passed on. Do the Hales know?"

Scott thought about it. "I think Derek saw my eyes change to red, but I don't think he's told anyone else. Other people do know though."

"Who?" Chris demanded.

Scott listed them off on his fingers. "My mom and Stiles, my pack, Dr. Deaton, Ms. Morrell, Deucalion and Kali. And now you two."

"Oh, is that all?" Chris asked sarcastically.

"I didn't know it was a secret. Anyway, half of them knew before I did. That's the whole reason Deucalion brought his pack here, to either kill me or get me to join him. He's your upstairs neighbor, by the way."

"Yes, Allison told me, which is why I sound proofed the entire apartment when I found out."

"You did a really nice job, Mr. Argent. I bet the owner won't even be able to tell."

"Yes, thank you, Scott." Chris said, rolling his eyes.

"So, Dad," Allison began, "if its only old werewolf families that know about true alphas, then how do you know about them?

Chris sighed. "It's not only old werewolf families. The Emissaries would know of it too, but, well, you were going to find out eventually anyways. Since Scott's here now, I might as well tell you both. Scott, sit back down. I'm not going to shoot you." He waited until Scott eased his way back around the couch and into his former seat.

"This is a long story, but I'll try to be brief," he began, "after the fall of the Roman Empire, came a time known as the middle ages, or the dark ages. For over thousand years, Europe struggled with war and poverty, sickness and famine. It was a hard time to live in, made even harder by werewolves." He looked at Allison, and explained further. "At this time, there were no hunters to protect people, and without society to hold them in check, they ran rampant. The alphas only bit people they thought were naturally vicious and easily led, to consolidate their power. They capitalized on the fear and superstitions of the people and kept Europe from economically righting itself."

He looked back at Scott. "By the 1300s things were looking pretty grim when the Black Death spread throughout Europe. One alpha saw this as a chance to increase his power and began biting people as fast as he could find them. One of the hundreds he bit was a man named Johannes who wasn't cruel or weak, but a good man. He became the first true alpha that Europe had seen for centuries and his fight against the cruel, power hungry packs is part of why Europe was able to transition into the age of enlightenment. He believed that werewolves could coexist with normal people and he sought to rid Europe of the murderous, corrupt wolves who populated it. He taught his pack and his children how to kill werewolves, and they spread across Europe, providing the first retaliation the werewolves had seen for a thousand years. They were the first modern hunters."

He sought Allison's gaze again. "Not every child born to a pack is born a wolf, and one of his children was our ancestor, Tomas Argent. We are the descendants of a true alpha. And no, it doesn't give us powers, it only gives us purpose."

Both Scott and Allison were speechless.

"Over the years the role of a hunter has changed. By nearly eradicating the older, evil wolves, new werewolves who arose didn't have the knowledge or pack structure that would have helped them stay in control of their instincts. Hunters began policing these out of control wolves and protecting the human population. As more and more of them rejoined society, werewolves became a thing of legend. Today, the biggest problem is when werewolves expose their true nature to the unsuspecting public. We hunt them as much to protect the secret as to protect humanity at large. However, the code of the hunter remains unaltered since Johannes gave the mandate 700 years ago."

At this Mr. Argent closed his eyes and began to recite the code. "A werewolfe who has killed a human shall be himself killed if there is proof of his deeds. A werewolfe who is a child shall not be killed, nor shall a human who allies himself with a werewolfe. Protect the innocent from their fury and visit my wrath upon those who would do harm." He opened his eyes again. "That is the Code of Johannes which every hunter accepts when he or she is initiated. I always thought it was funny that no one ever asked who Johannes was," he mused.

"Whoa," Scott said. "That is a lot of information. And a lot of pressure."

"If we are descendants of a werewolf, why did Kate and Gerard go against the code?" Allison asked. "I would think that having that as part of our family legacy would make them want to stick to it even harder."

Mr. Argent looked at her very intently. "It's not the wolf that makes a man a monster. The monster is already there, waiting to be given a shape. For Kate, that shape was fire, and for Gerard, a sword. It is up to each of us to fight that monster inside and to be there when someone else loses that battle."

He got up and put his weapon away. "Scott, I think it's time for you to go. I'm sure you're mother will be getting home soon." Scott nodded and got up to leave and Allison showed him to the door. Before he left, Chris called out to him. "Come back sometime and have dinner with Allison and I. You haven't been to one of our awkward dinners since we moved. You're welcome anytime."

"Thanks, Mr. Argent, that means a lot." He squeezed Allison's hand gently, and left the apartment.

His mind was in such a blur from everything he had been told that afternoon that he stepped onto the elevator and pushed the lobby level button without thinking.

"Hello, Scott, " came a voice from behind him. He spun around to see Deucalion in the elevator with him. Wonderful. "It seems I have misplaced two of my pack members. Where do you think they're hiding?"

"They're not your pack members anymore. They're mine now." Scott replied heatedly.

"Oh really. Care to make another wager? Same rules, Different terms. If you can take my cane away from me, I'll leave your pack alone. If you can't, I'll just have to come find them." He smiled cruelly.

Scott couldn't let that happen. He lunged for the outstretched stick, but just like last time, it wasn't where he thought it would be. Deucalion tutted at him and pulled out the 'Stop' knob on the elevator. He turned to face him again. Scott focused all his energy on the blind man. He couldn't let himself get riled up. He had to fight smart. Deucalion's arm shot out and Scott deflected it turning it into a counter move, which Deucalion dodged. His pole whipped around but Scott had seen that coming and he bent backwards as it skimmed over his chest. He sprang back up and head butted the older man right in the face, shattering his glasses and breaking his nose. It healed quickly, but Scott had landed the first blow.

"Hmm," Deucalion said, removing the frames and tossing them off to the side, "it seems you've learned a trick or two. Lets see how you cope with this." At that, his eyes flared red and he came at Scott with such a volley of punches that it was all Scott could do to avoid them in this confined space.

He dodged under one arm and scooted around behind Deucalion to the elevator controls. He pressed the 'Alarm' button and a very loud ringing, began to sound. Deucalion wasn't expecting this and he dropped his cane to cover his sensitive ears. Scott scooped it up and released the button. He then pressed the 'Stop' knob back in and the elevator resumed its descent. Deucalion uncovered his ears and scowled at Scott.

"That wasn't very nice Scott. How are you supposed to be a true alpha with dirty tricks like that?"

"What do you know about it?" Scott replied, finally letting some of his anger out. "You're so far away from behaving like an alpha should that I'm surprised your pack didn't band together to kill you years ago. You may have started out as the frog in the story, but you've turned into the scorpion, and are poisoning everything around you. I thought you hated Gerard, but you must worship him, because you are exactly like him. You're petty, power crazed and your search for vengeance has blinded you to what you've really become. Yeah, I said it." The elevator dinged and Scott stepped out. He snapped the blade off of the pole and tossed the stick back to Deucalion's feet. "Stay away from my pack," he said as a parting shot and left the building.

It was now 5:30 and the sun was getting closer to the horizon. He started to jog back home. He wanted to get there before his mom did so that she wouldn't have to make dinner for seven hungry people after working all day. Unfortunately, he arrived back just as she was pulling into the driveway. He stopped and waited for her to turn off the car and grab her stuff.

"Hi Honey, how was your day?" she asked him, getting out of the vehicle.

"Eventful. I'm actually just getting home now too. Let me take your bag, Mom and I'll help make dinner tonight."

"Thank you Sweetheart. Any ideas for what to make for dinner?"

"Well, Stiles has his dad on a heart healthy diet, so I'm sure anything that's got carbs or fat in it would be a hit with him." This made his mom laugh.

He opened the door to their house and stepped aside to let her in first, but the laughter died in her throat and Scott looked up to see what was wrong.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of lasagna wafting out the door. Then he saw the rest of the house. The dishes had been done from this morning and someone had vacuumed. The windows were sparkling and the table was already set. All the little everyday clutter was put away and someone had bought flowers which were in a vase in the living room. He just stood in the doorway with his mom gaping at their nice clean house. He could even hear the washing machine and the dryer running.

Isaac popped out from around the corner. He had a swiffer mitt on each hand. "Oh, you're home already? We're not finished yet." He went back into the living room, and Scott followed.

His mom walked into her immaculate house like she was an insect caught in the soothing blue glow of a bug zapper. Isaac had resumed dusting, but now they could see Ethan folding laundry and Aidan, who was wearing Grammy McCall's old apron, was chopping up some vegetables to put in the salad.

He felt his mom tug on his sleeve and he looked back at her. "Scott," she whispered as if talking too loud would break the spell. "I think I could get used to this."


	11. Chapter 11

"Wow you guys! You did all this?" Scott asked incredulous.

"We wanted to do something nice for your mom since she was letting us stay here. " Aidan said.

"And we usually do the cooking and chores anyways. So after I was discharged, we stopped by the apartment when Duc and Kali were out to lunch and grabbed our stuff. Then we went shopping and came back here to make dinner while Isaac cleaned."

"Do you like it?" asked Isaac.

"Yes, sweetie," she said patting Isaac's cheek and pulling him in for a hug. "This is a wonderful surprise." Scott smiled when Isaac's arms lifted away from his mom so his dusty swiffer mitts didn't get all over her back.

Even though he knew his mom had met both of the twins last night in the hospital, he wanted her to be introduced officially. "Mom, this is Ethan," he said walking he over to where the boy was folding towels. Ethan put down the one he was holding and held out his hand to shake, but Scott's mom just ignored it and pulled him in for a hug, too. He gave her a gentle squeeze and smiled at Scott over her shoulder.

When she released him, Scott took her over to the kitchen island, where Aidan was drying his hands. "And this is Aidan." He was a little more awkward than Ethan when is came to hugging, but after he got over the initial shock he just leaned his chin on her shoulder and closed his eyes. 'He might be as attention starved as Isaac was when he first started living here,' Scott thought.

"Mom, why don't you shower first and then I'll go after." Scott offered.

"OK, Honey. Thanks." She went up a couple stairs and then turned to look over the small platoon of smiling, young men. "Thanks, to all of you. This really made my day."

After she had gone upstairs, Scott turned to the guys. "So did you find space to sleep and put your stuff?" he asked.

"Yeah," Isaac said."I found some air mattresses in the garage and we blew those up. We put Ethan in with me and Aidan in your room. Come see." They all went upstairs and he saw that they had moved his green chair out of the corner and next to his closet and put the air mattress beside his bed. It was a bit cramped, but he didn't spend a lot of time here anyway.

"Looks good," he said. "Hey, I wanted to tell you guys that I ran into Deucalion today. He knows you're gone and he wasn't too pleased about it. He tried to do that Kung Fu thing again, but this time I got the stick."

"Kung Fu? Do you mean Kali?" Aidan asked

"No, the whole 'take the pebble from my hand, young Grasshopper' thing he does. Except you know it's his stick and he stabs you with it."

"Are you saying that he challenged you to take his cane away, and you actually did it?" Ethan asked in awe. "He does that to nearly every alpha we've ever come across, and no one has ever taken it from him before."

"Oh. Well I tricked him. We were stuck in an elevator and so combat options were limited, and I set off the alarm so he would drop it. It worked."

"That was pretty smart, Scott." Isaac said. "You're really good at that kind of thing."

"I wish I could use strategy and planning as extra credit in school," Scott replied. "I've got a B- average right now, and I want to keep it."

"Why don't we study together then?" Ethan suggested. "We all have some overlap of classes with each other."

"Yeah, and technically, Ethan and I have already taken these classes so this is kind of a refresher course for us," said Aidan. "We can totally get you up to a B+ average at least."

His mom came out of the bathrobe in the fluffy green robe Scott had picked out for her a couple of mother's days ago. She was drying her hair with a towel. "Are you guys talking about studying and getting better grades? Tell me the truth, am I being punk'd?"

"No, Mom, " Scott said, chuckling. He grabbed his towel and went to his bathroom to shower. He heard the boys go down stairs to finish the chores they had assigned themselves.

It wasn't too long before he heard Stiles and his dad show up. He barely needed his acute hearing to register the moan of happiness coming from the Sheriff at the thought of going off of his diet for the night. He got dressed and came downstairs to say hello. He saw that Lydia was not with them.

Sensing his question, Stiles filled him in. "Lydia's parents wanted to spend time with her. They're kind of intense and I got out of there before they could focus their attention on me."

There were two large pans of lasagna cooling on the counter and everybody began to serve himself. Aidan had also made a salad and garlic bread and there were chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

They spent the evening talking about werewolves, cross country races and how insane Coach Finstock was. It seemed to Scott that everyone was having a really good time.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and checked to see who was calling. It was a text from Derek asking him to come by his apartment this evening. He didn't want to leave, but Derek didn't often ask for help and he had said he'd be there for him if he needed to talk.

"Uh, Mom, I'm sorry, but I've got to go,' Scott began.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. He could see everyone else was on high alert too.

"Nothing, you can all relax, but Derek is going through some stuff and I told him I'd be there for him if he needed me."

"Alright, Sweetheart," his mom said as she patted his hand. "You go and we'll clean up here."

"Thanks, Mom. And thanks everyone for such a fun night. I needed a little time off from all the drama." He got up from the table and was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Hey guys, I forgot to ask, but tonight is the full moon. Are you in control or do I need to stay here with you?"

"Ethan and I are good. We'll just play some video games to work off the extra adrenaline." Aidan said.

"I'll be fine too, Scott," Isaac said. He looked around the table and then back at his alpha. "I think I've found my new anchor."

With that bit of good news he excused himself. He grabbed some cookies for the road and headed out the door. Out in the night, his house seemed especially cheery especially when he heard another round of laughter erupt. When he stepped off of the porch, he crouched down and stuck his head underneath. He growled at whatever rodent was burrowing under there. 'Hopefully, that takes care of it,' he thought. He'd rather scare it off than call pest control.

He took his motorcycle to Derek's; he'd had enough walking today. Even though he had full control during the full moon, it still felt good to have he wind in his hair and the night seep into his clothes.

All too soon, Scott was at Derek's door and Cora opened it before he could knock. She stepped out into the hall with him and closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Scott. I wanted to say I was sorry that I was so grumpy earlier. And yesterday. And pretty much anytime I've ever talked to you. I don't mean to be, it's just, after being on my own so long, it's easier to be angry rather than scared. You and Isaac came to check on me today and last night," she took in a deep breath and let it out. "And I just picked a fight. I'm sorry."

"I get it Cora," Scott said gently, "but you should know that you can be fierce and tough while still being smart." He thought for a moment about how to make her understand. "Do you have an anchor?" he asked her. She just looked at him, puzzled. "What keeps you calm when you're losing your head? What do you think about that stops you from shifting?"

"Oh, I get it." She frowned. "I usually think about the foster kids who told me to be quiet and cute so that I wouldn't get put with a bad foster family. That memory usually scares me enough to calm me down."

'Who taught these Hales how to be wolves?' Scott marveled. 'A teenaged human with access to the Internet was a better mentor than that whole family,' he thought, exasperated with the lot of them.

"We can work on your anchor together Cora, but for tonight's full moon, just try to think of times when you were calm for good reasons, and not because you were terrified. Then let me know what works best."

"OK, I guess I could try that," she said. "Maybe if I get good at controlling myself they won't have to lock me up every month." He could tell she was warming to the idea.

"Yeah, that's the goal, but lets take it slow. Do whatever you'd normally do, for now and we'll build up to it."

"Thanks, Scott," she said and she smiled for the first time since he had known her. "Lets go in, I can hear Derek pacing."

The loft was dark and lit only by the full moon outside shining in the big front windows. It was such a stark contrast to his home that he suddenly remembered the cookies he had brought with him. He took them out of the front pocket of his hoodie. He unwrapped them from the napkin they were in and offered one to Cora. They were still warm.

"I haven't had a homemade cookie since...before" she trailed off, remembering. "My mom used to make them with me. She'd have me sit right on the counter and I got to taste everything before anyone else."

"Cora," Derek's voice growled softly out from above, "you shouldn't be loose right now. Find Peter and get strapped in." Scott saw her nod and she took the top cookie, then went off towards Peter's rooms. He looked up and saw Derek balanced on the rafters, pacing back and forth. He put the rest of his cookies away.

He crouched and leaped up to grab a beam. He pulled himself up and sat down on a rafter running parallel to Derek's. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know." Derek paced in frustration. He wasn't used to communicating.

Scott knew he had to go easy. He suggested a topic. "What about why you didn't want to go to the distillery?"

"You had to start with the hardest one, didn't you? Typical." He paced some more before speaking. "That was a place I took my first girlfriend, Paige, my first love." He rubbed at his face. "She was bitten by a werewolf, but she didn't turn; I had to kill her to put her out of her misery. That place brings back old memories." It made sense now, all the anger and guilt he carried around with him stemmed from that moment.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked.

"No," Derek said curtly and the topic was closed.

"Did you want to talk about me being an alpha now? I know you saw my eyes turn red," he ventured.

"Honestly, I'm not even surprised. You pretty much just blew the curve for the rest of us since the day you were bit. Do you know how long it took me to be in control on a full moon? A whole year. You did it in a month. Cora still can't be left loose, though from what I heard out in the hallway, you've probably solved all her issues and she'll be fine from here on out," he said dryly. "Even Isaac, who was locked up in a freezer on a weekly basis for most of his life, kept his head and submitted to being chained up once I explained how you did it." He sighed, and sat down, straddling a nearby beam. "It's not just that. You can shift on command too. It took me 6 years to control that."

"Are you saying you're jealous?" Scott asked, incredulous.

"No, Scott. I'm in awe." He put his head in his hands." I know I'm not a very good alpha," he said sadly.

"What?" Scott interrupted. "You're fine. Better than any other I've met."

"Yeah, Deucalion's pack and Peter. What a ringing endorsement." he said glumly. "I want to be better than fine. I want to be whole again. I've been sad and angry and alone for too long. Even with a pack, even with my family here I feel alone." He dropped his hands and flopped back on the rafter so he was lying down.

"I just keep messing up. My plans suck, I almost never win fights unless its against a beta. You're a better fighter than me now and you're one step away from being a pacifist. I have a bad habit of dating murderers and I don't trust anyone. You're the only person that I have relied on since Laura died but even you don't like me half the time."

Scott had never heard Derek talk this much. He couldn't believe that he had kept all this in for the past year. It must have been eating him alive. "How can I help?" he asked.

"Scott, I want to join your pack."


	12. Chapter 12

"You want to what?" Scott was taken aback. He almost fell off the beam, but he steadied himself.

"Scott, you've said from the beginning that I'm not your alpha," Derek replied calmly, "so I want you to be mine. I want to join your pack."

"Who told you I had a pack?" Scott had planned on telling him personally, rather that having him find out from someone else. It had seemed to be the courteous thing to do.

Derek's frown deepened. "We had run out of conversation topics even before you showed up at the hospital," he said, shifting his gaze to his side. "So when you left, we just kept listening," he explained a bit guiltily.

"Oh. And that made you want to join me?" Scott didn't remember saying anything particularly inspiring. The twins had been the ones doing most of the convincing.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I want to join your pack for other reasons."

"Like what?" Scott asked. He wasn't trying to be difficult, but Derek wasn't like Isaac or Ethan, or even Aidan. Derek had always been self-sufficient and before tonight he had assumed that Derek had high self esteem.

Derek took in a deep breath and spoke. "You make people want to be their best self," he admitted. "The only other person I've ever know who had that skill was my mom. She was a great alpha. She never had to fight to get people to do things or intimidate them into submission. People just trusted her and wanted to help her. It's the same way with you."

"You're also kind of like our grandad," Peter's voice called up from below them. "He was a stubborn bastard, but he would never back down if he knew he was doing the right thing. When I was trying to get you to join my pack, the harder I tried to get you to lose control, the harder you fought me. You're strong willed once you make a decision."

Nodding in agreement, Derek went on. "There's also the problem with Deucalion. I know I can't fix this on my own. He'll either kill me, my family, or both and I can't stop it. I've tried to think of some way around it, but I can't do it alone. If it weren't for him being here I'd probably try to tough it out on my own, but I'm actually glad he's giving me an excuse to step down without being killed." He frowned down at Peter who raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, we both know that I was a much worse alpha than you, " Peter said seriously. "I was all power with none of the control. I know I complain about being weaker now, but honestly, I would not want to be alpha again. There were times when I didn't even know myself."

"So you want to join, too, Peter?" He didn't know how he felt about that, but so far tonight, Peter hadn't been his usually smarmy self. If he wanted to try to change, Scott wasn't about to discourage him.

"I do Scott, though, don't think I don't see the irony, since I'm the one who bit you." He caught Scott's frown and went on quickly. "I get what you were saying earlier, about me being someone who people actually want to have around. I've never managed it before," he joked lamely, "but I want to try."

Scott thought about what they were saying. It wasn't as if he would have turned his back on them if they had needed him, so what was the difference if they were in his pack or not? Then he looked around the loft again. It was empty and cold, the exact opposite of his own home. If this loft was a metaphor for how depressed the pack was, then the Hale's were in serious need and he couldn't just leave things as they were. They might not have been abused, but there were scars all over them. His mind was made up.

"I accept," he said.

"Thank you," Derek whispered to nobody in particular.

"I do have some rules though," Scott began. "Derek, no more physical attacks on Stiles. You two can fight and bicker all you want, but stop threatening to rip his throat out and shoving him around. If you can't control your anger, then you just have to walk away from him." He looked Derek right in the eyes. "I'm serious about this. You forget sometimes that he's human and doesn't heal that quickly." Derek nodded once in understanding.

Scott hopped down from the beam to talk to Peter directly. "Peter, until you prove to me that you mean to be a trustworthy person, I want you to stay away from my mom. She still thinks you are dead." Peter grimaced, but didn't argue with him.

He looked around the dark room again. "Can we turn some lights on in here?" he asked.

Derek dropped down next to him. "We don't turn the lights on at night. Someone could see."

"See what?"

"That someone's living here. We're not exactly rich, you know," Peter supplied. Scott just looked at the two of them, confused.

"We're squatting," Derek explained. "Like in our old house or in the rail yard. It's not like I can afford anything else."

This explained so much. 'I knew he couldn't afford this place,' Scott thought. "Why don't you get a job then?" he said, looking at Derek in particular.

"Laura always had money," Derek explained a bit sheepishly, "and I bought my car with my portion of the inheritance."

"I was comatose for years, and then dead for a while. Currently I'm just legally dead, but my options are limited is what I'm saying," Peter said, though his joking didn't have the bite it had in the past.

"Well, that's another rule. You have to get jobs and rent an apartment with heat, running water, and electricity that you can turn on. You have a teenaged girl living here, that you are sort of raising. She shouldn't have to do her homework in the dark" Scott shook his head and went off in the direction that Cora had gone earlier. Derek and Peter followed him, deep in thought.

He found her tied up in a straitjacket with chains wrapped around her, securing her to the bed. His cookie was sitting on her bedside table with just one bite taken out of it. Aside from the chains and stuff, she seemed fine.

"Hey, Cora," he greeted her, normally. "Have you been listening to everything that's been going on out there?"

"Yeah, Scott. You're going to let me be in your pack too, right?" She started to get a little panicky, but she glanced over at the cookie and calmed down again.

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't leave you out. I just wanted to let you know the rules that I have for you." Her eyes widened, but she didn't interrupt. "I want you to come over after school and do your homework at my house until you guys can get an apartment, and I want you to volunteer at the hospital on the weekends. I think it will help teach you patience. Or, at least that's what my mom said when she made me do it," he said with a rueful smile.

"Scott, are all these rules really necessary?" Peter asked from behind him.

Scott turned to look at him. "When you stop needing to be told to do basic things like 'get a job' or 'rent an apartment' I'll stop telling you to do them," he said matter of factually.

"Fair enough," Peter replied, backing down.

Scott wasn't done though. "Derek is right. I do want you to be your best selves, and there's no way you're going to accomplish that by continuing to do the same things you've been doing. If you really want me to be your alpha, this it the kind of stuff you're going to have to accept."

They all nodded at him. He looked at each of them for any signs of disagreement, but he didn't see any. He heard a knocking on the door. 'Oh good, the guests have arrived.'

"Well, lets get this show on the road," Scott said, heading for the door.

"But we don't have a plan," Derek said with a huff.

"I do. We're going to explain the situation and he's going to leave." He heard Derek mumble something under his breath, but he ignored it.

Peter slid the door to the side exposing Deucalion and Kali lit in the red glow of the emergency exit light. They were both smirking. It pissed him off how cavalier they always were.

"I thought I told you to stay away from my pack," Scott stated flatly. He was silhouetted by the moon outside the window, but his face was in shadow. Kali growled lowly.

"So you did," replied Deucalion cordially. "Am I to believe that Derek, whose pride is all that holds him up most days, has submitted to you?" he asked with mock incredulity.

"You are."

"Why doesn't he say it for himself then?" Deucalion mocked lightly.

"Derek?" Scott invited him to speak.

"It's true," he said simply, and without shame. Deucalion frowned.

"If he's not going to join us," Kali began, "then I get to kill him." She smiled cruelly stepping forward.

To Scott, it was as if time slowed down and he was the only one who could tell. He felt a warmth spreading from his chest out to every part of his body. The air had a tension to it that wasn't there before and it felt powerful.

"Stop," Scott commanded in a low, echoing growl. His red eyes glowed from the darkness of his face. Startled by his tone, she did stop. Scott locked gazes with Kali and moved into her path. "You will not harm any member of my pack, werewolf or human. Do you understand?" She didn't answer him, but seemed to be fighting inside herself for the will power to defy him. So he repeated his last phrase, hardening his tone. "Do you understand me, Kali?"

"Yes," she whispered at last, dropping her head.

Scott looked at Deucalion sharply, and registered actual fear on his face. "You should leave my town right now. From tonight foreword, I never want to hear about a pack of alphas taking power that doesn't belong to them. If I ever see your face again, it will be because you wasted the second chance that I am giving you. Do you understand, Deucalion?"

The blind wolf's posture shifted and he nodded.

"Say it," Scott commanded, his words reverberating throughout the loft.

"I understand," he said, sweating under the intense gaze.

Scott held them there for a few more seconds then allowed his eyes to return to normal, releasing them. He felt the power coiled inside him dissipate.

"Get out of here." The disgust in his voice was evident and they hurried away.

When he heard them leave the building, Scott turned back into the light to find Peter and Derek's stunned faces.

"I told you I had a plan," he said with a smile.


	13. Chapter 13

Scott went to close the large door, but after a couple steps, the room started spinning and he felt lightheaded. He held onto the handle for a couple seconds while everything came back into focus. "I may have overdid it a little there," he chuckled.

"Are you OK, Scott?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He started down the short staircase, when his knees gave out and his world faded to black.

The next thing he knew was that he heard voices. They were muffled and far away, but he definitely heard someone talking. He opened his eyes blearily and looked around. He was at Dr. Deaton's office and just like last time, he was half naked. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. There was no one in the room with him, but he heard Dr. Deaton trying to fend off a bunch of people in the waiting area. He should get out there and let everyone know he was OK, but first he had to find a shirt.

From the waiting room he could hear different members of his new pack arguing with Dr. Deaton about going in to see him. Surprisingly, Isaac was the most vocal; he had always been nothing but respectful to the doctor in the past, but Scott could hear the fear behind the anger in his voice. He quickly forgot about his hunt for a shirt and went out to see his friends.

As soon as he came around the corner, everyone relaxed. "Oh, thank goodness," Dr. Deaton said smiling, "I don't think I could have held them off for much longer."

"What happened?" Scott asked. Aside from Isaac, Ethan and Aidan were there as well as Derek and Peter. Aidan looked like he had been throwing himself up against the Mountain Ash barrier trying to get inside. Ethan and Peter were trying to restrain him, with little success. When he registered Scott standing there, in the flesh, he gave up fighting and sank down onto one of the beige sofas.

"You fainted and we brought you here for the doctor to look at you," said Derek who was standing in the corner. "When we called your house to let them know that you'd be late they came down here and started freaking out."

"All you told us was that Scott was unconscious and you were bringing him here," Isaac growled. "You didn't give us any other info."

Derek frowned at him. "I didn't know anything myself." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and hunched his shoulders."We were worried too," he said looking at Scott quickly before dropping his eyes. This seemed to deflate Isaac a bit and Scott used the sudden silence to cut in.

"So, what's the prognosis Doc'?"

"I think you'll be just fine Scott. You've had a busy few days and your alpha strengths are still developing. From Derek and Peter's explanation, it sounds like you asserted your will over two other alphas. That will take a lot out of you, but if you take care of yourself and get some rest, I don't foresee any lasting problems."

"What do you mean he asserted his will?" Ethan asked.

Peter answered him. "Just like some alphas can push their will onto their betas to force them to do something, Scott was able to make Deucalion and Kali submit to his will."

"What does that mean? Does that mean they're in our pack now too?" asked Isaac.

"No, I don't think so," replied Dr. Deaton. He turned to Scott. "As your alpha powers continue to develop, you'll probably be able to use it with greater ease. Your strength of will was one of the first signals to me that you were going to be a true alpha. I would be surprised if anyone were able to resist you for long."

Scott hoped that he didn't have much call to develop that particular power, but he had to admit that it was a good way to resolve matters. "How long will it last for? Do I have to worry about it wearing off and Deucalion coming back?"

"It depends on the person doing it and how much you want them to submit. Knowing how much you care about your pack and friends, I don't think Deucalion or Kali would be able to defy those orders." Scott sighed with relief.

"OK, just one more question." Scott opened his arms and looked around. "Where is my shirt?" Derek held up a ripped scrap of fabric that looked suspiciously like his hoodie.

"It ripped when I was trying to catch you," Derek shrugged. "There's probably some laundry in the car, if you want to check," he offered.

"Sure," he went to leave the office, but looked back at Aidan. The older boy wasn't looking too good. "Hey, Aidan, walk with me?" He hadn't moved since he sat down, but at Scott's request he got up to follow him.

Once they were outside, he rested his hand on Aidan's arm. "Are you OK?" he asked. "You reacted pretty strongly in there."

Aidan sighed. "I was just really worried. The last time I was there, Ennis died and I kept on thinking that you were lying there, unprotected, like he was." He looked up at the moon. "I couldn't control my fear, but I'm fine now."

Scott rubbed his back to comfort him. "Thanks for caring. I should have remembered about Ennis. I'm sorry he died."

"Thanks, Scott. I'm sure I'll be fine, its just still raw, you know. It was worse, thinking it was you in there. I know you're the alpha, but ever since I saw you, preparing to fight Ms. Blake with a broken spine, and me not being able to get up to help you, I've just felt really protective of you. That why I wanted to stay with you, when we were picking rooms, so I could be there, just in case." He paused for a moment, embarrassed. "I don't know why I just told you all of that. Sorry."

"Don't be. We can protect each other. That's what a pack does," he said lightly.

Aidan laughed. "I don't know where you're getting your ideas about what normal packs are like, but I like your version better. Now lets go find you a shirt."

When they found Peter's car he heard struggling coming from the back. He rushed around to the rear and popped the trunk. Inside he found Cora, still bound and now gagged fighting fiercely against her chains. Cora's eyes were wild yellow and her teeth and claws were bared. She growled at him as if she didn't recognize him.

Scott had a lot of experience dealing with frightened animals at the clinic, and he crouched down near her, letting her get used to his presence. He put his hand near her face so she could smell him. Slowly he began to stroke her hair until she had quieted down. He removed the gag and her teeth and claws receded. She started to shake.

"Cora, Its alright. Calm down." He continued to talk to her in a soothing voice as he helped her sit up. He started to rub her back, but the chains got in the way. 'Enough of this,' he thought. 'These can't be helping the situation.' He ripped the padlock open and began unraveling the chains from around her. Aidan had found him a shirt and he barely paused to put it on before starting to unclasp the straitjacket.

"Don't," Cora whispered. "I can't be trusted on a full moon."

"I trust you," Scott stated with finality. He wasn't going to let Cora spiral any further. She had to start to learn control somewhere. "Just remember to try out some good, calm thoughts. We want to see which one works best."

He released the clasps on the jacket and helped her out of it. She seemed to breathe easier right away.

"I think it helps if you have something for your hands to do," Aidan supplied. He pulled out from his pocket some ping-pong ball sized marbles and rotated them around each other in one of his hands for a couple of seconds before passing them over to Cora to try. She picked up the trick pretty quickly.

"Thanks," she said, still focused on the toys in her hand.

They headed back inside and he could tell that Derek and Peter were shocked to see Cora set free and in control. They didn't say anything though when they caught the disapproval in Scott's eyes

"It's late and I'm tired," Scott declared. "Lets go home."

"All of us?" asked Peter. Scott thought about sending the Hales back to their loft, but he knew that Cora would just be chained up again. He couldn't have her sleep over by herself. His mom was cool, but not that cool. He couldn't have Derek come too and send Peter away alone. That wouldn't set a good precedent. It was either all or nothing.

"All of you," he decided. "You can stay on the couch for tonight and I'll explain about you being alive to my mom in the morning."

Peter looked pleasantly surprised. "Thanks, Scott. I'll be on my best behavior."

They said their good-nights to Dr. Deaton and Scott thanked him for the late night care. They all piled into the cars and went home.

They crept into the house silently. It was after midnight and his mom would hopefully be asleep. Isaac went to get some spare blankets for the Hales and they settled in. Cora got the couch, Derek slept in a reclining chair and Peter curled up on the sofa. Ethan and Aidan went upstairs to get ready for bed.

"If you need anything, the bathroom is over there, and my room is at the top of the stairs," He whispered, pointing to each location. "Goodnight." He heard their sleepy chorus and left them to get some sleep.

He walked upstairs with Isaac and was surprised to be pulled into a hug by his friend, but he returned the gesture easily. "I'm glad you're OK," Isaac said. He released him with a smile and they separated to their own bedrooms.

Aidan was already passed out so Scott just changed into a fresh tee shirt and boxers, brushed his teeth and flopped onto his bed face down. He was out in an instant.

When he woke the next morning he felt the sun shining down through his window. It was really nice but the brightness made it hard to stay asleep. He rolled over and sat up. His eyes widened when he saw that there had been some migration in the night. Cora was curled at the foot of his bed, Derek was in the green chair and Peter was on the rug. Ethan and Aidan were back to back on the air mattress. 'And I thought the room seemed crowded before," Scott thought. His bedroom door opened to reveal Isaac standing in the door frame rubbing his eyes, amused by what he saw.

Scott pulled on his pants from last night and tiptoed carefully out of his room. Isaac shut the door behind them, chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Scott whispered as they headed down stairs.

"They're amateurs." He saw Scott's puzzled frown and explained. "I slept in that green chair for a week when I first moved in. The trick is to wake up first so you don't get caught."


	14. Chapter 14

Scott checked the kitchen clock when he came down stairs. He had slept until noon on a Sunday and it had felt great. He really must have been exhausted. When he thought back on the past two days he wasn't really surprised. He was going to use today to get caught up on his homework and relax. He texted Stiles to invite him to come hang out. It had been a few hours since he last saw his best friend, and they had a lot to catch up on. 'But first,' his stomach reminded him, 'it's time for food.'

Scott knew he wasn't the best cook in the world, but with his mom working long hours, he knew how to fend for himself. That meant just one meal: grilled cheese and tomato soup. He went to the pantry to get his ingredients and saw that it was stocked. Like totally, super-full to bursting, stocked.

He turned to Isaac who was reading a magazine at the kitchen island. "How much food did you guys buy yesterday?" he asked incredulously.

"They pretty much bought to whole store. I told him that it was too much, but they just kept saying that they were big eaters. We ended up filling three grocery carts before they were satisfied."

"I hope they're not trying to fatten me up. I'm never going to get as big as the rest of you," Scott joked.

"I think you've got some other strengths you can rely on," Isaac said wryly.

"I'm making grilled cheese. You want some?"

"Absolutely."

Scott began to heat the soup and the skillet. He heard someone padding down the stairs. He looked over and saw that it was Derek.

"Any coffee?" Derek grumbled.

"No but there's some in the cabinet if you want to make some." Coffee was not a part of Scott's limited expertise.

Derek just grunted and started rummaging around. Scott wasn't surprised to see that Derek remained as uncommunicative as ever. Some things never change. He buttered several extra slices of bread and put the in the pan to grill with cheese.

When the coffee was brewing and the sandwiches were done he ladled some soup and sat down. Isaac got up to serve himself and turned off the burners.

They all ate and drank in comfortable silence. To a hungry young man, food was serious business. Derek just sipped his coffee slowly waking up.

"So, Derek, any thoughts on what kind of job you'd like?" Scott asked. Derek choked a little but swallowed his mouthful of coffee.

"It's been less than a day since you assigned me that task. You don't really expect me to figure it out that soon, do you?" Derek wondered aloud.

"Just throw out some ideas. What did you want to be when you were a kid?"

Derek frowned. "I wanted to be a rhinoceros."

"You would have made an excellent rhinoceros," Isaac said in perfect seriousness. Scott couldn't help but agree.

They all heard footsteps coming up the front porch stairs and keys being inserted into the lock. Derek and Isaac were on the alert since they knew his mom was out for the day, but Scott waved them back down.

"Relax, it's just Stiles," he said as the person in question came through the door.

Scott turned back to Derek. "How about lately. What do you like to do? What do you do a lot of already that could translate into some kind of job?"

"All I've been doing since I got back to Beacon Hill was try to avoid getting killed or arrested," Derek grumbled.

"Are we trying to find Derek a job?" Stiles asked, tossing his book bag on the table and making himself right at home.

"Yeah, but he's not really qualified for a lot of stuff. He's never had a job before," Scott supplied. Derek just scowled into his coffee.

"I know what job he's perfect for and where he's sure to be hired." Stiles said. They all looked at him with interest. "He can be a deputy. He's always standing creepily outside the school anyways. Give him a badge and now he's watching for suspicious activity." Derek started to growl, but Stiles went on anyways. He began to tick other points off on his fingers. "No criminal is going to mess with him. He's familiar with all the shady parts of town. He's OK with night shifts. He'll undoubtedly pass the physical tests." Scott could see that Derek was actually considering this now.

Stiles thought for a second. "I bet I can even get my dad to vouch for him. It's not like he was convicted of any felonies. He'll have to take some courses in how to be a deputy, but I bet he'd be hired no problem." Stiles grew quiet but went on to explain. "I know for a fact that they are still short staffed from the night Matt and Jackson attacked. And more recently, my dads partner Tara was murdered by Ms. Blake." Everyone was quite, remembering those horrible deaths.

"I think that's a great idea. What about you Derek?" Isaac said, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

Derek seemed to think about it for awhile. "I guess it would be nice to be thought of as the good guy for a change " he said finally.

"Great. I'll talk to my dad and let you know what you'd have to do." Stiles said.

"Maybe we could ask him about Peter too. Not about him being a deputy," Scott said quickly when he saw the apprehension on the other guys' faces, "but about him being legally dead. I don't know what our options are. Can he be legally declared alive again, or what?" he wondered. "That reminds me. I've somehow got to get Mr Argent on board with not killing him. I don't know how I'm going to sell that one."

"You could always try to use the force," Stiles joked, not knowing how close he was to the truth. "This is not the werewolf you're looking for."

"Oh, brother," Scott laughed. "Have I got a lot to tell you."

They spent the next half an hour filling him in on what had happened the night before. When Stiles heard about Derek joining the pack, he slapped him on the back. "Welcome to the family, my lad," Stiles enthused. Scott thought Derek was going to push Stiles off his chair, but he saw him swallow his impulse to lash out at him and he just smiled painfully. It actually may have been more of a grimace, but it was better than a new lump on his best friend's head.

When they got to the part about asserting his will and fainting, Stiles was pretty impressed. "I wonder what else you'll be able to do. Derek, do you know anything about true alphas?" he asked.

"All I know about it I heard in bedtime stories so I don't know how much of it is the truth," he said as a disclaimer, "but from what I remember, the True Alpha in one story was kind of like a traveling knight. He would go to a town with a problem, and fix the problem and move on. Then there was another one where a true alpha was the leader for all the wolves in the land and he made laws and judgements for everyone. There was even one where a true alpha slayed a dragon, though I may be just getting them mixed up with fairy tales." he trailed off thinking. "There may also have been one who could heal people by touching them, but it's hard to remember that far back."

"That's OK, Derek," Scott said. "Thanks for trying anyways."

Soon everyone else woke up and came downstairs to eat and start on the weekend assignments. The hardest for Scott was calculus, but with Ethan's help he finished his homework and got an 89% on a practice test he took. Coach Finstock was going to be so out-of-proportionately happy about this.

Even Peter made himself useful by cleaning up the kitchen and helping Cora with her history homework. It was fun taking this day off, knowing that nearly everyone he usually worried about was here in this room with him.

When Scott's mom came home Aidan had dinner ready and that, coupled with the sight of her child and his friends doing homework softened the blow of seeing Peter alive. Scott took took her upstairs and let her get her feet back under her.

"I don't get it Scott, I thought you said he died." she asked, confused by the whole situation.

"He did die mom, but he found a way to come back, sort of." Scott didn't really understand the mechanics himself, but just knew that Lydia was involved somehow. He remembered that she was working on the translations for him. 'I'll have to check in with her at school tomorrow.' he reminded himself.

"And you think you can trust him Scott?" she asked

"Honestly, Mom, I don't know yet. In the past he's seemed pretty shady to me, not to mention his psychotic murdering phase, but he has been better since I agreed to let him in the pack. I'm going to watch him closely, but let me know if you see anything you think I should know about, OK? I hope he's turned over a new leaf, but I until I see some proof, I just can't say for sure."

"Alright, Scott. Let's go get some dinner and we'll worry about this later." Scott let his mom lead the way down stairs.

The Hales stayed for dinner, but left soon afterwards since his mom said it was a school night. Stiles also went to go meet his dad who was getting off shift which left the house a lot quieter. Scott put in one of his and his mom's favorite movies, Ace Ventura, which none of the other guys had seen before and they all sat down to watch it together. It was a hit and everyone was repeating quotes for the rest of the night. He thought his mom really enjoyed having a full house. He knew he did.

When they went to bed that night everyone went to their own rooms. Scott didn't really think anyone would need to sleep in his room with him, again, but he left the window open a crack, just in case. He now had people to take care of, after all.


	15. Chapter 15

When Scott woke up Monday morning, he was actually excited to go to school and let things get back to normal. He got up to take a shower, but Aidan was using his. He went out into the hall and Ethan was in that one. He knew his mother and Isaac were both early risers, so they were probably already showered and ready. He went down to get some breakfast while he waited.

"Scott, I didn't expect to see you so early," his mom said with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, you don't normally make it down until at least 8," Isaac agreed. Scott was well known for his heavy sleeping.

"Both the showers are being used, so I have to wait," Scott explained.

His mom smiled. "That is one of the things you'll have to get used to with a big family."

When she put it like that, it didn't sound so bad, however his good outlook was soon crushed when he stepped into a cold shower. He screamed like a little girl and jumped back out. Scott took a few deep breaths and forced himself back under the freezing spray. It was safe to say that he took the fastest shower of his life.

He heard Stiles' honk outside as he was getting dressed. He grabbed his book bag and a pair of socks and dashed downstairs.

"Bye, Mom," called hopping through the kitchen as he put on his socks. His mom just chuckled, amused at her son's antics.

Isaac and the twins looked confused. "Aren't you riding with us?" Aidan asked with a piece of toast in his hand.

"Stiles always takes me to school." Scott stopped and looked back at them. "You can ride with us if you want."

Ethan and Aidan frowned, but Isaac spoke up, putting his cereal bowl down in the dishwasher. "We'll follow you in Aidan's car. See you there."

Scott shoved his feet into his shoes and scuffled out the door. He hopped into the jeep and Stiles took off towards school. He looked back and saw the three other guys hurrying out of the house, but then Stiles turned the corner and they were lost from view.

When they arrived at school Scott took a moment to tie his shoes and tried to brush his hair with his fingers. He and Stiles made their way to the front doors.

"Do you think anyone knows what happened?" Scott wondered opening the doors. They stepped inside and everyone in the entryway went silent, staring at them. Then one person began to clap and soon everyone else joined in.

Out of the side of his mouth, Stiles whispered, "I think they know something."

The began to ease further into the school, and their classmate who usually ignored them, now were smiling at them. Actually, Scott realized, at just one of them. Stiles was slapped on the back and congratulated. They looked at each other, confused.

Then, Danny came up to them. "Stiles, I heard what your dad did. I can't believe it was Ms. Blake all this time. I still don't know how she poisoned me, but I'm really happy she's caught. Tell your dad thanks for me."

"There it is!" Stiles shouted, relieved to know the reason to his new found popularity. At Danny's bewildered expression he tried to cover. "Uh, Yeah man, I'll let my dad know," he said with false cool, bobbing his head. Scott nodded earnestly from behind him.

Danny just shook his head at the two of them and merged back into the crowd.

Scott and Stiles separated to go to their first classes. Scott had calculus and for the first time he actually felt prepared for class. Ethan came in and sat down next to him, taking out his books.

"I heard Stiles received quite the welcome this morning," Ethan said.

"Oh yeah. We totally froze," Scott said, a little embarrassed. "We're more used to not being noticed."

"Aren't you both Lacrosse stars, sort of?"

"Yeah, I guess, but without our uniforms and masks, no one actually knows it's us. Or maybe they do and just don't care," Scott suggested.

When Danny came in to the class, Ethan waved at him, but made no move to switch to an open table. Danny shrugged and went to sit next to one of their other teammates. After that, class started with a pop quiz. Scott was pleased to see he could figure out a lot of the questions. He was still stumped by a couple, but he thought he did better than usual. The tests were passed back at the end of class and he had gotten a 90%! He showed Ethan who patted him on the back.

"I guess we'll just have to keep up the study group," Ethan said as Danny joined them on the walk to Scott's next class.

"Absolutely. Mom's going to freak out. She'll probably hug you again," Scott warned.

Ethan smiled gently. "I'm sure I'll survive."

"You two study together now?" Danny asked under his breath, but of course, the both heard him clearly.

"We just started yesterday, and it's already paying off," enthused Scott.

He had History next with Isaac, Aidan, Cora and Allison. When he went to go sit down everyone positioned themselves around him. He caught Danny's puzzled expression from the door, before Ethan pulled him off to their next class.

History class was a little disjointed since Mr. Westover had just died. Their substitute was a old woman who could probably remember WW1. Scott was just thankful that he had watched The Great War on PBS when he was home sick last spring.

He walked with Aidan to their English class, stopping off at his locker to drop off some books. When he walked in he went to sit near Stiles and Lydia and Aidan sat behind him.

"Hey Guys," Scott greeted them. "How's it feel to be so popular, Stiles?" he asked teasingly.

Stiles just flopped his head onto his desk. "I never knew how awful it was to have everyone notice you all the time." He leaned towards Scott and whispered in his ear. "I have had a wedgie for three hours now, but I can't fix it because everyone is watching me." He wiggled around in his seat uncomfortably.

Lydia turned to watch him squirm with a smirk. "Now you know how I feel. I can't even have a bad hair day without everyone noticing." Stiles just groaned.

Scott turned to Lydia. "Were you able to work on those translations?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Just one so far. It was pretty interesting." Just then the Principal and his secretary, Beverly, came in and everyone settled down. "I'll tell you more at lunch," Lydia whispered.

"Class, as you may or may not know. Ms. Blake was arrested on Saturday for murder and attempted murder. This is undoubtedly a shock, but I wanted to let you know that we will be getting a replacement soon. For now, this class will be used as a study hall which will be monitored by Beverly. For any students who feel the need, Ms. Morrell is available to talk." With that, he left the classroom.

All the students in the class started talking at once. Beverly looked around in panic, but then just shrugged and sat down at the front desk, pulling out her smartphone. Scott could hear the familiar sound effects of Candy Crush playing. As one, Scott, Stiles, Aidan and Lydia pulled their desks together into a quad and Lydia pulled out her research.

"I'll read you my translation, OK?" Lydia asked. "I've tried to update the language a bit."

"Sounds good," agreed Scott, readily.

"Hold up," Stiles said. "Danny's watching us." The all turned to look at the other boy who was just blatantly staring at their table. They all smiled innocently and Stiles waved. Danny blushed at being caught, and went back to his own reading. "OK, go ahead."

"The True Alpha: While some have come to believe that this legend is a pure myth, that is not the case. While extremely rare, a beta may become an alpha strictly based on his own attributes and bearing." She licked her lips and continued. "It is impossible to tell the difference between Alpha and True Alpha just by observing. It is by their deeds and powers that they may be identified. While, not every True Alpha has the same abilities, I have assembled a list of those traits reported by Johannes as well as other sources: the ability to heal more rapidly than others; the ability to assert one's will over others, humans and other supernatural included; increased strength and speed beyond that of even a normal alpha; the ability to heal others without sacrificing his own power; and the ability to control large groups of betas (in some cases the True Alpha may be identified by a larger than normal pack)." At this, everyone began counting how many people, wolves and humans both, were considered to be pack to some degree.

After a slight pause Lydia continued. "Other powers reported by less reputable sources include: a resistance to flame; the power of flight and the ability to read minds. I include those here only to illustrate how the legend has grown over time. The only sure sign of a True Alpha (where the transformation has not been observed directly) is subtle and often unnoticed by even the True Alpha himself. The True Alpha acts as a beacon to all supernatural creatures, drawing them nearer to him. As the True Alpha grows in age and strength so too will grow his influential pull.

"While a True Alpha is not necessarily a cause for concern and is often a stabilizing influence, their protective instincts and increased abilities can make them a nearly unstoppable force. If ever a True Alpha is identified, leave the territory immediately. If your pursuit of a deadly supernatural leads you across his path, it is best to contact the True Alpha directly and he will handle it on his own." Lydia put down her papers, signalling that she was finished.

Scott could almost see his hope for life to return to normal, fly right out the window.


	16. Chapter 16

For the rest of the period Scott was lost in his own head. It seemed like every time he got a handle on his life, something came to spin it even further out of control. When the bell rang he snapped out of his daze. 'C'mon, Scott' he berated himself, 'You can't just check out whenever something weird happens to you. You're a werewolf, not a zombie.'

This time he wasn't going to fight it. He was Alpha now and it wouldn't do anybody any good for him to wallow about how unfair his life was. 'It's just like Grammy McCall used to say,' he thought, 'When you've got a full plate on your hands, that just means you need to get a bigger plate.' He knew that she was talking about the buffet lines in Vegas, but sentiment still applied. Speaking of, he was getting hungry.

"Lets go to lunch," he said.

Stiles feigned shock. "He lives! I thought you fell asleep with your eyes open for awhile there."

Scott smiled sheepishly. "Yeah sorry about that. I had a little brain overload."

"Usually, when that happens to me I find a dead body. Count your blessings that you just drool," said Lydia seriously.

Scott wiped at his face in horror, but when he saw his friends trying to hold back their laughter he caught on to her joke. "Very funny, Lyd," he said as his mock frown dissolved into a chuckle.

"Enough joking," Aidan said when the laughing subsided. "I'm seriously starving. I only got one bite of my toast this morning before we rushed out the door," he said as they left for the cafeteria.

Scott was going to ask why they were in such a hurry, but before he could, they were joined by Ethan and Cora, and he could see Isaac and Allison making their way towards them. Their large cluster made a path through the students as they wound their way through the school.

Today's lunch was some sort of casserole which didn't really look too appetizing. To Scott's surprise, Aidan had packed lunches for him and Isaac as well as for himself and Ethan.

"Wow, thanks!" He smiled as Stiles stabbed at his noodles with a frown. Isaac nodded enthusiastically and took a big bite of his sandwich. Aidan shrugged nonchalantly, but Ethan's secretive smile at his twin made Scott think that maybe Aidan was a big softy beneath his hard shell.

After lunch everyone went to Chemistry, which was the only class they all had together. Since Mr. Harris had died so early in the school year they had permanently replaced him with Mr. Monroe. While he hadn't wished their teacher had died in the first place, Scott had to admit that, personality wise, Mr. Monroe was an improvement. He seemed really chipper today, but that was probably because the killer had been caught before she could kill him or any other of his colleagues.

When the class was over Scott and Stiles stopped by his locker again before heading to Economics with Coach Finstock. He noticed Ethan and Danny watching him from down the hall. Ethan smiled at him, but Danny just furrowed his brow.

"What's up with Danny?" Stiles asked. "He's been a bit off all day."

Scott was glad he wasn't the only one who had noticed. "Do you think he's figuring out about us? I mean the werewolf thing," Scott whispered.

Stiles just rolled his eyes. "No, I think he probably thinks we're escaped fugitives running from the law," he said sarcastically. "Of course it's got to be the werewolf thing. There's almost nothing else interesting about us."

"Well what do we do about it?" Scott asked. There were already a lot of people in the know, and while Danny was a nice guy he wasn't that close to him.

Stiles thought about it as they walked to Econ. "Let's not do anything for now. Maybe he'll convince himself he's crazy. Let's just let him make the first move." Scott just nodded, worried despite his friends assurance.

Economics was as unusual as ever, but this time when Coach asked him a question he was actually able to answer.

"Yes!" Coach shouted. "McCall! This is your Independence day! High-five!" Scott wanted to sink into the floor at his coach's over-enthusiasm, but he raised his hand up anyways. No High-five should ever be left hanging.

After the bell, Coach Finstock asked him to stay behind. Scott couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong, but who knew with his coach.

"McCall, do you want to know what I heard about you today?" he asked aggressively. Scott just shrugged. "I heard you got a 90% on you calculus test today. I've been checking in on you all semester and I just wanted to congratulate you. You're not failing any of your classes!"

"Uh, thanks Coach."

"You don't know how much this means to me and the team. Keep up the great work, Kid." Scott didn't really know how Coach managed to be both overly invested in his life and also, possibly not know his first name.

Coach let him go after that and he walked out into the hall to see that Ethan and Stiles had waited for him. The stopped to collect everything from their lockers and made their way out to the cars where Isaac, Aidan and Cora were already waiting in the back of Stiles' jeep.

"Whoops," Ethan said pulling out the keys to his car. "I forgot that I drove today. My car was last in the driveway and we didn't want to waste time moving them just so Aidan could drive."

That reminded Scott about how Aidan said they were in a rush that morning, but before he got a chance to ask, Danny stopped them.

"Hey Ethan, can I talk to you alone for a sec?" Danny asked.

Scott and Stiles just shrugged and walked over towards the jeep and got in the front seats. They were all 'not listening' very conspicuously, but Scott and all the other wolves could hear everything they were saying. He shushed Stiles, who gave him an affronted look, but stayed quiet.

"What's up, Danny?" Ethan asked, concerned

"What's up with you and Scott?" Danny returned, bluntly.

"Nothing," Ethan said, a bit thrown off. "We're friends now."

Danny frowned. "You've been staring at him all day and sitting with him at lunch and in class. You blew me off yesterday to study with him. Do you like him or something?" he asked softly.

"Not like that. I like you, Danny. A lot."

"Then what's changed? You never used to hang out with him or Stiles and you and Isaac seemed to hate each other."

Ethan took a deep breath and Scott wondered what he would tell him. "You know my uncle Duc'?" Danny nodded frowning. Scott could see from here how much Danny disliked the man. "Well, Scott found out how he was treating Aidan and me and he's letting us live with him for a while until we can figure something else out. He even stood up to Duc' for us and I think he convinced him to move back to Sacramento."

Danny groaned, embarrassed at himself. "I feel like such a jealous idiot. All day I've been wondering what you might see in him." Scott frowned, a bit hurt by that and he heard a chorus of growls from the back.

"Hey, Scott's my friend now. What's so wrong with him?" Ethan said, coming to Scott's defense.

"Nothing! He's a good guy and all. It's just... he and Stiles..." he looked like he was struggling for a nice way to put it, but finally he just blurted it out. "They're just so weird! SO weird."

Scott could hear some snickers from the wolves behind him but he ignored them as Danny continued. "I don't even know where to start! Last year Scott tackled everyone on the Lacrosse team just to smell them. What's up with that? Then he let Stiles pelt him with balls for some reason. Really hard too."

The snickers were turning into chuckles now and Stiles turned around to look at them. "Stiles used to ask me all the time if he was attractive to men and they followed me to a club one time, but I know they're not gay." The laughing had gotten really loud and Stiles was asking what was so funny, which just set them off more.

"I don't know, they're just weird. Which is fine, I guess, until I get it into my head that you have a crush on one of them," Danny concluded.

Even Ethan was chuckling now but he put his hands on Danny's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "You don't have anything to worry about. In full disclosure though, I am sleeping on an air mattress in Isaac's room." He pulled him into a one armed hug and kissed him on the cheek. Danny, just blushed happily.

They said their goodbyes and Ethan made his way over to the vehicles. Aidan and Cora moved over to Ethan's car and Isaac got the back seat to himself. Stiles started the car and they began to drive home.

"Will you please tell me what was so funny back there?" Stiles asked indignantly.

Isaac piped up before Scott could explain. "Danny thought that Ethan had a crush on Scott, then he listed off a bunch of weird stuff you two did last year."

"It was bad, man. Be glad you couldn't hear it. It explains why we're not more popular," Scott joked.

"That's not why," Isaac replied. "You're not popular because until recently you've been Scott&Stiles. Which isn't a bad thing," he assured them quickly, "it just make you seem happy and confident. That can be intimidating especially since not many people are as secure as you two. That was why Jackson was such a jerk to you, even when you had asthma and rode the bench. Jackson is the most insecure guy I've ever met." Scott sometimes found Isaac uncomfortably insightful.

"Dude, that was deep," Stiles said succinctly.

They met back at home to continue their study sessions before Cora had to leave for home. Aidan drove, and Scott went along too to check on Peter and Derek and pick up his bike which had been left there Saturday night.

It was dark as usual when he went in, but he saw that candles had been set up around the place which did improve the ambiance a little. Peter was sitting at the table with his laptop open.

"Hey Peter, working on something?" Scott asked wandering over.

Peter turned in his chair to greet him. "Actually, yes. You said to get a job, and before the fire, I had a bachelors degree in accounting. I don't know if I'll be able to use it if I'm legally dead, but I thought that I could take a CPA practice test to see if I remember enough to even pursue it."

"Wow, that's really great." Scott enthused slapping him on the shoulder. "I was actually sort of stumped as to what job you would want, so I'm glad you already know."

Peter turned back to his test and Scott let him get to it. He looked around for Derek and found him brooding on the spiral staircase.

"Stiles asked his dad about the deputy thing and he agreed to come meet with you tomorrow night at my house around 8:00. I think he wants to gauge your commitment or something like that. Can you be there?"

"He didn't already say no?" Derek looked up, surprised. "I thought that's what you were coming over to tell me."

"Why would you think that?" Scott wondered.

"Good news comes over the phone, bad news you receive in person." Derek explained to Scott as if he should have already known this.

Scott just rolled his eyes at the ol' sour-wolf. "He hasn't said 'yes' yet, but you'd have to interview for the job anyways. Maybe you can create an unofficial resume that lists your strengths and assets so he knows everything you could bring to the position. He knows about werewolves in general, but I doubt he's ever thought about one in law enforcement."

Derek chuckled at this but agreed to make one for tomorrow. Scott started heading for the door, but turned around.

"Why don't you guys come over for dinner tomorrow at 7:00?" Scott offered. "Since I don't see you everyday at school, I think we need to try to keep in better connection now."

"OK." Derek said and Peter turned to give him a nod and a grin. As he left, he smiled to himself. For all their aloofness and prickly exteriors, perhaps the Hales just wanted to be included. 'Well,' Scott thought to himself, 'even I can do that.'


	17. Chapter 17

The following morning went more smoothly for Scott since the twins decided to shower the night before. When he came down for breakfast, he kissed his mom on the cheek and dug into the scrambled eggs she had made for them.

"Mom, just so you know, Derek,Cora and Peter are coming over for dinner, and then Mr. Stilinski is coming over after dinner to give Derek a sort of job interview."

"Alright, Honey, but I want everyone home by 9 o'clock. It's my late shift tonight, so I'll be back around 11:30. Leave the porch light on for me?"

"Sure, Mom." That was one of their traditions. When he was younger, he had liked that his room was above the porch because he was able to tell that his mom was home when she shut off the light. Nowadays, even though he could hear when she was anywhere within a hundred yards of him, they still kept it up. He didn't want his mom stumbling around in the dark, after all.

School that day was mostly back to normal if you didn't count all the memorials for the people who had been killed. During their English class/study hall Lydia read her translation of the Banshee entry.

"The term banshee covers a wide range of supernatural beings who can sense or predict death, but at her truest form, a banshee is a woman who is attuned to important deaths," she began. "While the mode of discovery is unpredictable, visions, trances, and dreams are the most common." Stiles made little check marks in the air as she listed off the phenomena, since Lydia had experienced all of those.

"A banshee's ability to predict death is limited. She will usually only focus on the deaths of one family, but occasionally her scope widens to include any deaths in a specific location, or more rarely, a larger body of people. In such cases a tie can be found to connect the banshee to that specific group. Traditionally, and most commonly, the tie is to a specific Scottish family.

"A banshee's pronouncement of an upcoming death should be taken as fact, though in a few instances, it can be prevented. Usually in these cases, a champion's actions will be the cause for the victim's changed fate." She made eye contact with Scott and gave him a determined smile, before turning back to the page.

"A banshee's scream can be frightening to humans, and painful to supernaturals. One hunter from the Donald clan married a banshee and her scream would stun their quarry so he could dispatch them which is a rare example of a banshee predicting and causing death at the same time. This type of relationship is not typical and most banshees blend into normal society with ease. In most cases, the ability will lie dormant for generations until something triggers it."

"So what do we think?" Lydia asked.

"I was wondering if you're tied to a family, place or group of people?" Aidan asked.

"Well I think an argument can be made for all three," Stiles said. He held up one finger. "She could be connected to the whole town and that's why she is able to predict deaths over a wide area." He put up a second finger. "She could be connected to the school and its students. Most of the dead bodies you find are teachers or students," he said. "The third possibility is that she is connected to Scott now and predicts deaths that in some way relate to his life." Stiles now held up three fingers.

"Why me?" Scott asked, surprised.

"Your name is Scott McCall," Stiles said simply."I know you're not fully Scottish, or anything, but that may not be important. Lydia just said it was most common for banshees to follow specific Scottish families and like it or not, you're part Scottish." His friend smiled sadly at him. Stiles knew that Scott was still angry with his Dad for leaving town, but that didn't change the facts.

"What do you think Lydia?" Scott asked, trying to redirect the conversation away from his daddy issues.

"I kind of think it's the school,"she admitted. "Stiles is right. All the fugue states have either happened when a teacher or student was taken or killed; or when someone died at the school, like Deputy Grahame. Plus, when I first started seeing Peter's ghost, it was here at school and he was our age."

"What about at the Glen Capri?" Scott wondered.

"It was school related," Stiles pointed out. "That was for a cross country meet, we were on a school bus, and everyone on board was either students or faculty." They continued to debate for the rest of the period.

After school, the boys had cross country practice, so Allison and Lydia hung out with Cora until they were ready to go. Scott hoped they all got along. It was hard to tell with girls sometimes. When he had completed the first lap and circled back, he saw that they were sharing a snack, which seemed like a good sign.

"Hey, girls. What're you eating? I could hear it from half a mile away." Scott cringed as he jogged in place. He sounded so awkward to his own ears. With one girl he was fine. With two girls he was mostly normal. So why did he get nervous when there were three of them?

Allison blushed and laughed. "My dad has been packing my lunches lately, and he made ants-on-a-log. I appreciate that he's trying, but he gave me this exact same lunch when I was in Kindergarten."

"I think it's nice," Cora said softly, and then scowled at her own sentimentality.

"I do too," Lydia assured her, patting her knee and reaching for another. "Allison, these are delicious and your dad is a sweetheart," she proclaimed.

Scott nearly choked hearing that last part. Chris Argent was not a sweetheart. Hadn't any of them met the man? He did not understand women. He shook his head and with a wave, ran off on his next lap.

After practice they all headed back to Scott's house. Scott went upstairs to put his backpack in his room, and when he came back down, Aidan and Cora had started dinner, Isaac was unloading the dishwasher, Lydia and Allison were setting the table, and Ethan was putting another load of laundry in the machine. Stiles was just sitting at the island, chatting while everyone else worked. "At least some things stay the same," Scott thought.

"I'm doing a load of colors if you want to put your gym clothes in," Ethan called out. Scott ran to get his sweaty clothes and put them in the machine before Ethan closed the lid. He looked around to see what else needed doing, but when he couldn't find anything he just sat down next to Stiles.

"You run a tight ship here, McCall," His best friend joked.

Scott just shook his head. "I didn't do anything," he said honestly. "They came like this."

When dinner was in the oven and the 'chores' were done they started on their homework.

"I feel like I'm in an alternate reality," Stiles whispered into his ear. "Are we seriously doing our homework right now? Ke$ha would be so disappointed in us."

"The last time I let you pick our activities for the evening, we found a dead body, you got caught by your dad, and I was bitten by a werewolf," Scott said under his breath.

"Yeah, and look at how well that turned out for us," Stiles said gesturing around the room.

Scott couldn't disagree on that one.

Derek and Peter showed up just when dinner was ready. There were massive amounts of baked chicken, rice and green beans. Aidan had even baked a loaf of bread and it smelled great. Scott made a plate for his mom to eat when she got home and covered it with tinfoil before getting his own food and sitting down at the table. It was a little crowded, since the table was only made for eight, but no one minded. Everyone just dug right in.

During dinner, Cora and Isaac re-enacted Danny and Ethan's conversation from the day before which set the whole table laughing. Then Derek told the story of Scott's first attempt at a howl, which was just embarrassing. Finally, Stiles brought the house down with the story of his cousin Miguel and the bloody t-shirt. Even Derek laughed.

Scott looked around at all his friends. He was really thankful that he had so many now. Less than a year ago, this scene would have just been him and Stiles splitting a pizza on the couch as they played Call of Duty. That was fun too, but this made him feel a lot fuller, and it wasn't just the food. "We should do this every week," Scott suggested, and there was a chorus of agreement.

When the food was eaten, Peter volunteered to do the dishes. As everybody else began to clean up from dinner, Scott and Stiles took Derek over to the living room to look over his résumé. He was glad they did, because it was mostly a list of physical feats that he could do. Scott doubted that the Sheriff wanted to know that Derek could leap 15 feet straight into the air. If he ever did it on the job it would cause more problems than it would solve. Stiles opened up his laptop and began heavily editing the document to Derek's dismay.

"Dude, chill. I'm not lying about anything, on here. We just need to focus less on impossible feats of daring-do and more on skills that a future employer can actually use," Stiles said, waving aside all of Derek's objections. Derek began to massage his temples. Scott decided to just leave them to it.

Around 7:45, the girls and Peter went home. Isaac and the twins went upstairs to play video games on Scott's computer and their laptops. Scott just leaned back in his favorite chair and closed his eyes as Stiles and Derek bickered in the background.

When he heard the knock on the door 20 minutes later, he was startled awake. Stiles went to go answer the door and led his Dad into the living room. Derek stood up and shook his hand.

"My son tells me you're looking to apply to be a Deputy Sheriff, " Mr. Stilinski began.

"Yes, I am," Derek replied. Scott wanted to shake him. Now was not the time for his strong, silent thing.

Thankfully, the Sheriff was used to difficult witnesses. "Tell me about why you're interested in being a Deputy."

Derek took a nervous breath and began. "I just recently began to think about a career for myself. Stiles suggested this job to me, and at first I didn't think I would be right for it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that it's right for me. You know my situation and I think that a lot of my skills can be used on this job." He glanced at the print out in his hands and but then set it face side down on the coffee table. Scott saw Stiles' eyes widen in panic. Derek was going off script.

"The reason that I want to be a Deputy is because of what happened to my family," he said firmly, looking right into Mr. Stilinski's eyes. "They were locked in the basement and our house was set on fire. That was the worst day of my entire life, and I've had to spend everyday since, knowing that the people responsible were still out there, just living their lives." Derek sighed and looked down at his hands. "Even now, when they're all dead, it still doesn't feel over."

When he met the Sheriff's gaze again, his face had hardened. "The killers were murdered, but I never got justice. Murder isn't Justice. I wanted those people who did that to my family to be locked up in prison and have to spend the rest of their lives there, thinking every day about what they did to me."

Derek looked out the window at the street outside. It was dusk and the streetlights had just come on. "I'll know that I'll never be able to get justice for myself, but maybe I can get it for someone else. I don't want anyone else to have to feel this way." He looked back at the Sheriff and shrugged. "I'm tired of feeling like this, and I want to do something good with my life."

Scott felt like his heart had dropped into his stomach. He couldn't believe that Derek felt like that every day. He glanced over at Stiles and saw that his usually expressive friend looked thoughtful.

"That was a good answer," Mr. Stilinski said. "Can I take a look at your résumé?"

Derek just nodded and handed it over.

"OK, it says here, that you have a high school diploma, that's good... No felony convictions, of which I am well aware..." His eyebrows shot up and he looked at Derek appraisingly. "15 feet into the air? It seems you'd pass the physical test handily. You're going to have to show me that sometime."

Derek smiled. "Not a problem."

Mr. Stilinski looked Derek over and made his decision. "Since I've already done several background checks on you, I think I can safely say that you've got the job if you want it. You'll need to go through Law Enforcement Academy, which is a 26 week course, and we'll need to get you registered fast so you can be part of the fall class. The class costs about four thousand dollars, but we have a scholarship fund that should help with a lot of that. You will be officially hired during the training, so you will get a paycheck every two weeks. I can start you at $12 an hour, but we can probably raise that once you complete the Academy. You'll get Medical and Dental insurance for you and your family."

Derek was speechless.

"You think it over tonight, and come by the station tomorrow around 9 to let me know your decision."

"That's it?" Derek asked. "That's the whole process?"

"Well, not for most people, but my heart trusts Stiles, and my head trusts Scott and they both vouch for you. So I'm going to give you this shot, and I think you'll do good things with it."

He and Derek stood up and shook hands, then he turned to Stiles. "Come on Son, it's time to get home. Goodnight Scott."

"Goodnight Sheriff," Scott replied, walking them to the door.

When they left he returned to Derek who was still standing up, looking at the door. Scott slapped him on the shoulder. "I knew you could do it."

Derek started laughing with relief, which quickly turned into sobbing. Scott pulled him into a hug and just let him get out all the fear and sadness that he had locked up inside himself for so long. After a couple of minutes, Derek pulled away. Scott let him collect himself and went to get him a glass of water.

"Thanks, Scott," he said, taking the glass. His eyes were dry, and his breathing was back to normal, and Scott couldn't see any signs of his previous distress. Derek drank the whole glass of water in one go and handed it back to him. He headed for the door and opened it to leave. He looked back at Scott with a sad smile. "Thanks for everything," he said, and left.

When he was gone, Scott locked up the house, flicked on the porch light, and went to bed.


End file.
